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CrowdScience listener David was playing snooker in Thailand when he started thinking how such a smooth ball was dependent on the rough green baize of the table to bring it to a stop. Would it be possible to play snooker at all in a completely frictionless universe?\\nSometimes friction produces heat. Could we ever control it completely?\\nWe try to reduce friction in some cases by using lubricants, whilst at other times like braking at a traffic junction we depend upon friction entirely. Anand Jagatia heads to Edinburgh in Scotland, UK, to meet some true masters of this mysterious entity: players of the winter sport Curling. What exactly is friction, and does thinking about it tell us something deeper about the universe?\\nTaking part:
Jennifer Dodds, Team GB Olympic Gold medallist\\nDave Lieth, Head of performance services, British Curling\\nSusan Perkin, Professor of Physical Chemistry, University of Oxford \\nRoger Lewis, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
Presented by Anand Jagatia\\nProduced by Alex Mansfield
With thanks to David for his question.
[Image: curling. Credit: Getty Images]
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