Newton's Third Law of Motion

claimed by Karan Shah

Newton's Third Law Explained

Main Idea

If you push an object with 100N it will push back on you with equal but opposite force.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion describes a push or pull that acts on an object as a result of its interaction with another object. According to this law for every action there is an equal and opposite re-action. This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size, but opposite in direction. Meaning that when an object 1 pushes another object 2 then object 1 gets pushed back with equal force but in the opposite direction. The third law of motion is also referred to as the action-reaction law because both the forces are part of a single interaction and neither force can exist without the other.

A Mathematical Model

The canon pushes the canon ball forward and the canon pushes the canon back with equal force.

An important concept to remember about Newton's Third Law of Motion is that the two forces are of the same type. For example, when you throw a ball in the sky the Earth exerts a gravitational force on the ball and the ball also exerts a gravitational force on that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the earth.

(e.g., if the road exerts a forward frictional force on an accelerating car's tires, then it is also a frictional force that Newton's third law predicts for the tires pushing backward on the road).

A Computational Model

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