Stick–slip phenomenon

[1][2] Stick–slip may be caused by many different phenomena, depending on the types of surfaces in contact and also the scale; it occurs with everything from the sliding of atomic force microscope tips to large tribometers.

[1] On very smooth surfaces, stick–slip behavior may result from coupled phonons (at the interface between the substrate and the slider) that are pinned in an undulating potential well, sticking or slipping with thermal fluctuations.

[8] Stick–slip motion is ubiquitous in systems with sliding components, such as disk brakes, bearings, electric motors, wheels on roads or railways, and in mechanical joints.

[8][11][12] Stick–slip motion is used to generate musical notes in bowed string instruments,[2] the glass harp[13] and the singing bowl.

[15] The behaviour of seismically active faults is also explained using a stick–slip model, with earthquakes being generated during the periods of rapid slip.