contact area

When two objects touch, a certain portion of their surface areas will be in contact with each other. Contact area is the fraction of this area that consists of the atoms of one object in contact with the atoms of the other object. Because objects are never perfectly flat due to asperities, the actual contact area (on a microscopic scale) is usually much less than the contact area apparent on a macroscopic scale. Contact area may depend on the normal force between the two objects due to deformation.