Stories by Ernest Rabinowicz

They are electrons emitted by a fresh metal surface. Such surfaces are created by wear or by the cracking associated with metal fatigue; thus exoelectrons have become useful in the study of those processes

Is polishing simply fine-scale abrasion or is it more akin to melting? Recent findings suggest that neither of these two old rival hypotheses is entirely correct

The inexorable loss of material from surfaces in sliding contact eventually destroys the usefulness of most things. Now that laws of wear have been defined, its effect on systems can be predicted

When two substances rub against each other, they frequently stick and then slip. The phenomenon accounts for the squeak of bearings, the music of violins and many other sounds of our daily experience