A Description of Newton's Third Law of Motion
As we saw before, most folks can repeat Newton's Third Law of Motion from memory:
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
However, we are still just learning what Newton's Third Law really means. Now that we know what an action force and what a reaction force is, we are ready to find out the true meaning of Newton's Third Law.
Newton's Third Law of Motion really says that any time an object exerts a force on a second object, the second object MUST exert a force which is equal in size and opposite in direction to the force exerted by the first object on the second. For example, if I push to the right on a table with 200 Newtons of force, the table must push back to the left on me with 200 Newtons of force. The action force and the reaction force in any interaction MUST be equal in size and opposite in direction. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
In the cartoon below, if the snowball hits the boy with 30 Newtons of force to the left, the boy MUST hit the snowball with 30 Newtons of force to the right.
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
However, we are still just learning what Newton's Third Law really means. Now that we know what an action force and what a reaction force is, we are ready to find out the true meaning of Newton's Third Law.
Newton's Third Law of Motion really says that any time an object exerts a force on a second object, the second object MUST exert a force which is equal in size and opposite in direction to the force exerted by the first object on the second. For example, if I push to the right on a table with 200 Newtons of force, the table must push back to the left on me with 200 Newtons of force. The action force and the reaction force in any interaction MUST be equal in size and opposite in direction. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
In the cartoon below, if the snowball hits the boy with 30 Newtons of force to the left, the boy MUST hit the snowball with 30 Newtons of force to the right.