Chalk: Are we sandbagging our fingertips???

This just in (well, in 2001): the use of chalk decreases the coefficient of friction between you and those holds. What? No really, it's sort of like adding talc to a baby's bottom. OK, not exactly. But 15 climbers were the guinea pigs in a study by Li et al.:

http://www.sportex.bham.ac.uk/staff/lifx_files/Coeff%20friction%20climbing%20JSS%202001.pdf

On sandstone, slate, and granite, four hand conditions were tested: dry, dry with chalk, wet, wet with chalk. The coefficient of friction (ratio between the tangential force and the normal force) was highest for sandstone (as non-physicist climbers already knew), but the coefficient of friction was higher without chalk than with chalk for either dry or wet hands. And non-physicist climbers already knew that dry hands have a higher coefficient of friction than wet hands.

So what's going on? Looks like the chalk particles fill in those ridges that give you palm and fingerprints and act a bit like ball bearings or actually slippery flat layers.

Outcome? Find another way to dry your hands. If you use chalk to dry your hands, wipe the chalk off to maximize your Spiderman-like tendencies.

Climbing Nerd Level 0.5