I have been doing a lab for my class and before we started the lab we wiped our surfaces (rubber and slate [is a lab bench so it has been fireproofed]) with a wet paper towel and dried it off quickly. We did calculation and found the coefficient of kinetic friction to be far too high (over 1.5) so I think the water may have played a role in the wrong calculations. What is the general effect of wet surfaces on the coefficient of kinetic friction of objects because many sources say that water acts as a lubricant, but I noticed that it seems to decrease the acceleration of objects.

I have been doing a lab for my class and before we started the lab we wiped our surfaces (rubber and slate [is a lab bench so it has been fireproofed]) with a wet paper towel and dried it off quickly. We did calculation and found the coefficient of kinetic friction to be far too high (over 1.5) so I think the water may have played a role in the wrong calculations. What is the general effect of wet surfaces on the coefficient of kinetic friction of objects because many sources say that water acts as a lubricant, but I noticed that it seems to decrease the acceleration of objects. In this experiment I did not just leave the surfaces wet, but rather I dried them off so it was more akin to cleaning but the results seemed to show a massive increase in the coefficient of friction.