Why is friction necessary so that a car can make a turn?

Truman Biby: Without friction it will go straight.

Anibal Scheid: This goes back to Newton's Law."Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it."Friction is needed as the external force to change the state of the car movement. Ever tried driving on icy road with regular tires ? At higher speed, more friction is needed. But friction is generated by the weight of the car (which cannot be increased). Think of the Cartesian coordinates with X as the car force and Y as the friction. You will need a balance between them to achieve the right resultant of force to make a turn. Speeding means excessive X and you would be able to turn at all....Show more

Tyler Burkman: without friction you would just keep on sliding in the same direction forever and there wouldn't be any traction to turn due to the lack of friction.

Christiane Cattano: if a car approaches a turn at to much speed nothin! g and you keep going unless your goin really fast depending on the turn like highway most cars could hit those at about 90-110 fine but if your going really fast the car wont turn and keep going straight definitly wont flip

Jade Ohno: Friction is necessary, because a turn constitutes a change in velocity, which is the mass times the speed propelled in a certain direction. Any direction change is a velocity change, and so requires friction or some other outside force to change direction. This is the law of inertia. If your driver is going too fast, the attempted direction change will not be enough, and they will continue in the direction that they applied the most force in, either skidding sideways or flipping the car into a roll....Show more