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Abstract Classical laws of friction suggest that friction force is proportional to the normal load and independent of the nominal contact area. As a great improvement in this subject, it is now widely accepted that friction force is proportional to the real contact area, and much work has been conducted based on this hypothesis. In present study, this hypothesis will be carefully revisited by measuring the friction force and real contact area in-site and real-time at both normal loading and unloading stages. Our experiments reveal that the linear relation always holds between friction force and normal load. However, for the relation between friction force and real contact area, the linearity holds only at the loading stage while fails at the unloading stage. This study may improve our understanding of the origin of friction.