Newtons's 3rd Law of Motion

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion, commonly referred to as the Law of Action and Reaction, describes the phenomena by which all forces come in pairs. If Object 1 exerts a force on Object 2, then Object 2 must exert a force back on Object 1. Moreover, the force of Object 1 on Object 2 is equal in magnitude, or size, but opposite in direction to the force of Object 2 on Object 1. Written mathematically:

This has many implications, some of which aren’t immediately obvious. For example, if you punch the wall with your fist with a force of 100N, the wall imparts a force back on your fist of 100N (which is why it hurts!). Or try this. Push on the corner of your desk with your palm for a few seconds. Now look at your palm... see the indentation? That’s because the corner of the desk pushed back on your palm.

Although this law surrounds your actions everyday, often times you may not even realize its effects. To run forward, a cat pushes with its legs backward on the ground, and the ground pushes the cat forward. How do you swim? If you want to swim forwards, which way do you push on the water? Backwards, that’s right. As you push backwards on the water, the reactionary force, the water pushing you, propels you forward. How do you jump up in the air? You push down on the ground, and it’s the reactionary force of the ground pushing on you that accelerates you skyward!

As you can see, then, forces always come in pairs. These pairs are known as action-reaction pairs. What are the action-reaction force pairs for a girl kicking a soccer ball? The girl’s foot applies a force on the ball, and the ball applies an equal and opposite force on the girl’s foot.

How does a rocket ship maneuver in space? The rocket propels hot expanding gas particles outward, so the gas particles in return push the rocket forward. Newton’s 3rd Law even applies to gravity. The Earth exerts a gravitational force on you (downward). You, therefore, must apply a gravitational force upward on the Earth!

 

Question: Earth’s mass is approximately 81 times the mass of the Moon. If Earth exerts a gravitational force of magnitude F on the Moon, the magnitude of the gravitational force of the Moon on Earth is

1. F
2. F/81
3. 9F
4. 81F

Answer: (1) The force Earth exerts on the Moon is the same in magnitude and opposite in direction of the force the Moon exerts on Earth.

 

 

Question: A 400-newton girl standing on a dock exerts a force of 100 newtons on a 10,000-newton sailboat as she pushes it away from the dock. How much force does the sailboat exert on the girl?

Answer: 100N. The force the girl exerts on the sailboat is the same in magnitude and opposite in direction of the force the sailboat exerts on the girl.

 

 

Question: A carpenter hits a nail with a hammer. Compared to the magnitude of the force the hammer exerts on the nail, the magnitude of the force the nail exerts on the hammer during contact is

1. less
2. greater
3. the same

 

Answer: (3) the same per Newton’s 3rd Law.