How does Oil reduce Friction?

Question

how does oil reduce friction?...anyone know how to put it into simple terms so that a 6th grader could understand this?!

Answer 1

Remeber I was talking about microscopic bumps and dips on the seemingly smooth surface in your other question? Oil fills up the dips. Oil molecules are going into the dips and filling the voids thus making the surface smoother.

Answer 2

a thin layer of oil between the two surfaces that were previously sliding against each other reduces friction because the object is now sliding over the oil molecules. the oil is a liquid so these molecules are free to move about and therefore provide less resistance to the sliding object. of course the temperature of the oil affects how much it reduces the friction. when it's cold, the oil will be "thicker" and more like syrup and therefore friction will be higher than when the oil is warmer (there is a limit though you don't want the oil as hot as possible, but that is beyond the scope).

Answer 3

little round molecules instead of square shaped molecules? Not sure that it right, but it would be visual.
Put dried beans or something like that on a table, but a book on it and see how easily it moves.

do the same with little squares, maybe building blocks, legos, something like that and show that it is more difficult to move the book,

that extra energy used to move the book is friction. Make any sense??