This paper describes a simple technique for determining the coefficient of kinetic friction for extremely small displacements. An attempt was made to obtain more information about the transition stage between the coefficients of static and kinetic friction. If the force of static friction persists over small distances before falling to the lower value of the kinetic friction, such distances in the case of steel on steel are probably smaller than 5×10−6cm. With the exception of very soft metals, higher values of the coefficient of static friction were obtained for impulsive forces than for slowly increasing tangential forces.