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High school physics - NGSS
Course: High school physics - NGSS > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Introduction to momentumNewton's third law of motion
Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The "action" and "reaction" refer to forces; if Object A exerts a force on Object B, then Object B exerts an equal amount of force on Object A in the opposite direction. Examples include pushing an object, stepping on the ground, and rockets. Created by Sal Khan.
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- If there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action (force), what exactly is an unbalanced force? Are they just two separate ideas?(22 votes)
- This is a common misconception when the idea of action/reaction pairs is introduced. The point is that there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action, but these two forces are acting on different objects! So, for instance, if I kick a ball, I apply an unbalanced force to the ball, and the ball will accelerate in the direction of the applied force. The same force, in the opposite direction, will be applied by the ball on my foot. What will happen to my foot will depend on how firm is my standing on the football field ;-)(54 votes)
- I am confused about the last part of the video? why can not we move in space?? suppose if we try to push ourselves in some direction, why can not we??? i am very confused :( i mean where does my force go that i use in the attempt to move?(11 votes)
- There is no friction or air resistance that will support you to move. Whereas ,on earth we have friction while walking, air to sail a boat etc which is not there in space. Therefore, we are not able to push our self in space. Its just emptiness in space, Nothing is there to hold onto.
Hope it helps.(22 votes)
- the horse pulls the cart forward and the cart pulls the horse with an equal and opposite force both forces cancel each other neither the cart nor the horse should move but why does the cart move(14 votes)
- The cart and the horse move because the push of the horse on the earth is greater than the cart's friction with the earth. Also, if you look at the horse and the cart as a system, the total force on the cart and the horse is in the direction the system is going.(17 votes)
- Let there be a rock on a grassy surface. You applied a force on it and it started moving. Now, when you push the rock, the rock will also apply an equal and opposite force on your hand. This will result in a zero net force. Now, if there is zero net force on the body, how can it move? Please clear my doubt. Thanks(4 votes)
- Actually, guptaakshat0505, I believe you are incorrect. According to Newton's third law, the magnitude of the force that you exert on the rock is always exactly equal to the magnitude of the force of the force that the rock exerts on you. The rock moves because there is a net force acting on it. Zero net force occurs when two forces act in equal magnitudes in opposite directions on a single object. Here there are two objects each of which experiences the same magnitude force. Therefore, the rock will move. Does this help?(7 votes)
- ok, so why does this equal and opposite reaction happen? you explained only how it happens.(6 votes)
- We can't really answer why that happens. In our universe, one of the laws of physics is that momentum is conserved (which implies equal and opposite forces). Asking why this happens is like asking why masses attract other masses, or why positive charges attract negative, or why energy is conserved. Why are the laws of physics what they are? We can't say.(6 votes)
- So in space, why does it have to be a massive object that you throw to be propelled back to where you want to be? Won't any object do? Because regardless of whether you exert 100N of force on a 10kg object or on a 100kg object, it will still exert 100N of force back on you right? So why does it have to be the most massive object on you?(4 votes)
- Because a small object will very quickly accelerate out of reach of your hand, so it won't be able to exert force on you for very long, and therefore it won't accelerate you very much in the opposite direction.
Try it for yourself. Hold a small ball in your hand, jump in the air, and throw it. You didn't go backwards very much. Now stand next to a building, jump in the air, and push the building away from you. What happened to you?(5 votes)
If you are pushing the brick, the brick is exerting an equal and opposite force on you. That means you are being pushed back. How can you still push the brick?
(4 votes)- You are correct in noting that when you push a brick, the brick exerts an equal and opposite force on you, as described by Newton's third law of motion. This phenomenon is often summarized as "action and reaction."
The reason you can still push the brick despite the equal and opposite force acting on you is due to the difference in mass and acceleration between you and the brick. Your force on the brick depends on your strength and the force you apply, while the brick's force on you depends on its mass and acceleration.
Consider Newton's second law, which states that force (F) is equal to mass (m) times acceleration (a), or F = ma. If you apply a force to the brick and it is heavier (has more mass) than you, it will experience less acceleration than you when you exert that force. In other words, the brick resists your force more because of its greater mass.
As a result, you feel the equal and opposite force from the brick, but it doesn't accelerate you much because you have much less mass than the brick. You can still push the brick if you apply a force greater than the force of static friction between the brick and the ground. Overcoming static friction allows you to set the brick in motion.
In summary, you can still push the brick because the equal and opposite force you feel from the brick doesn't accelerate you significantly due to the difference in mass and acceleration between you and the brick. Your force, if greater than the force of static friction, can set the brick in motion.(0 votes)
- Does the 3 laws of motion work in the space.(2 votes)
- Yes, all three of Newtons laws apply on earth as well as in space.(4 votes)
- When Sal said to find something massive in your space suit and throw it when you are in space Sal said you will move because of Newton"s third law, but what would happen if you just moved your arm, wouldn't you still move since you are putting force to something?(5 votes)
- You would move as a result of applying force on gases such as hydrogen as weoll as microscopic particles of star dust.(0 votes)
- If the force applied back when exerting one is equal, why then is an event triggered? One would assume the Net Force would be 0.(2 votes)
- Let's say you're pushing on a box on a table.
The force exerted by you on the box is being applied to the box.
The corresponding opposite force according to Newton's Third Law of Motion is a force of the same magnitude exerted by the box on your hand. It is being applied on your hand.
The force which counteracts the force of you pushing the box is the friction between the box and the table, because that force is being applied to the box on the opposite direction that you're pushing it and hence counteracts your push. If you push harder and exceed the force of friction, there will be an unbalanced force to your direction of push and the box will move.
Hope this helps.(4 votes)
Video transcript
We're now ready for Newton's
third law of motion. And something, once again,
you've probably heard, people talk about. But in this video, I want to
make sure we really understand what Newton is talking
about when he says-- this is a translation of
the Latin version of it-- to every action, there's
always-- and just to be clear--
Newton was English, but he wrote it in Latin
because at that point in time, people wrote things
in Latin because it was viewed as a more
serious language. But anyway-- to every
action, there is always an equal and opposite
reaction, or the forces of two bodies on each
other are always equal and are directed in
opposite directions. So what Newton is saying
is that you can't just have a force acting
on some object without that object also
having an opposite force acting on the thing that's
trying to act on it. And just to make it clear,
let's say that we have a-- and we'll talk about these
examples in the second. Let's say that I have some
type of block right over here. And that I move, and
I press on the block and I try to push it forward. So this is my hand. This is my hand trying
to press on the block and exert a force, a net
force in that direction. So that the block
moves to the right. Maybe this block is
sitting on some type of ice so that it can move. So let's say that I have some--
that doesn't look like ice-- I'll give it a more
ice-like color. So the block is sitting on,
maybe, some ice like that. So Newton's third law
is saying, look, I can press on this
block, and sure, I'll exert a net
force on this block and that net force will
accelerate the block assuming that I can overcome
friction, and if it's on ice I can do that. But that block is going to exert
an equal and opposite force on me. And for direct evidence--
this is something, even though it might not
be so intuitive, when it's said-- this equal
and opposite force. But direct evidence that it's
exerting an equal and opposite force-- is that my hand
will get compressed. I could actually feel the
block exerting pressure on me. Take your hand right now and
push it against your desk or whatever you have
nearby and you are clearly exerting a force on the desk. So let me draw-- so let's
say I have a desk right here. And if I try to push on the
desk-- so once again that's my hand right here,
pushing on the desk. If I push on the
desk, and I'm actually doing it right now while
I record this video. You'll see. So I'm clearly exerting
a force on the desk, if I do it hard
enough, I might even get the desk to shake
or tilt a little bit. And I'm actually
doing that right now. But at the same time, you'll
see that your hand is getting compressed, the palm of your
hand is being pressed down. And that's because
the desk is exerting an equal and opposite
force on you. If it wasn't, you
actually wouldn't even feel it, because you wouldn't
even feel the pressure. Your hand would be
completely uncompressed. Another example of that-- say
you're walking in the beach, and you have some
sand right here. If you were to step on the sand. So let's say that
this is your shoe. I'll do my best
attempt to draw a shoe. So this is the shoe. If you were to step on
the sand, clearly you are exerting a
force on the sand. The force that you're
exerting on the sand is the force of your weight. The gravitational attraction
between you and the Earth. You are exerting
that on the sand. The sand is also-- and
another evidence of that is that the sand is
going to be displaced. You're going to
create a footprint. The sand is going to
move out of the way because it's being
pushed down so hard. So clearly you are exerting
a force on the sand. But the sand is also exerting
an equal and opposite force on you. And what's the evidence of that? Well, if you believe,
Newton's second law-- if you have this
gravitational force on you, you should be
accelerating downwards unless there is some other
force that balances it out. And the force that
balances it out is the force that the beach,
or the sand is exerting on you upwards. And so when you
net them out there is a zero net force on you. And that's why you
get to stay there. Why you don't start
accelerating down towards the center of the Earth. Other examples of this- this is
maybe the most famous example of Newton's third law--
is just how rockets work. When you're in a
rocket, either trying to escape the atmosphere,
or maybe you're in space, there's nothing to push off
of, nothing to push off, that lets you accelerate. So what you do is you keep stuff
to push off in your fuel tanks, and when you allow the
proper chemical reactions or the proper combustion
to take place, what it does is it expels gases
at ultra high velocities out the back of your rockets. And each of those
particles you're exerting a force on them. Enough force even though they're
super small mass for each of them, they're going
at super high velocity. So they're being
accelerated tremendously. So there's an equal
and opposite force on the rocket, the thing that
is actually expelling the gas. And so that's what
allows a rocket to accelerate even when there's
nothing in this direct vicinity to push off of. It just expels a bunch
of things or accelerates a bunch of things at
a super fast rate. It exerts a force on
all these particles, and that allows an
equal and opposite force to accelerate the rocket ahead. And another example of
this is, if you ever find yourself drifting in space. And this is an actually
useful example, so that you don't end up
drifting in space forever. Let's say, we don't ever
want this to happen. This astronaut,
by some chance he loses his connection
to this little tool arm right here in the space shuttle,
and he starts drifting away. What can that
astronaut do to change the direction of his motion
so that he drifts back to the space shuttle? Well you look around, there's
nothing to push off of. He doesn't have any
wall to push off of. Let's just assume he
doesn't have any rocket jets or anything like that. What could he do? Well the one thing
you could do-- and this is the situation if
you're ever drifting in space-- is you should find
the heaviest or I should say the most
massive thing on you-- and we'll explain the difference
between mass and weight in a future video-- but
you should find the most massive thing that you can
carry, that you can take off of you, that you could throw. And you should throw it in a
direction opposite yourself. So let me put it this way. If I throw-- let's say I'm
in space and I'm floating. I'll make it look like the glove
of a-- so let's say that this the glove of the astronaut. There you go. That's his hand, that's
the astronaut's hand right over here. And let's say he find some
piece of equipment on his, or she finds some piece
of equipment on them that they can throw. They can take off
of their tool set. And they could find
the most massive object that they could throw. So what's going to happen
is-- for some period of time, while they push
this object away, they will be exerting a force
on that object for some period of time while they have
contact with the object. And that entire
time, that object, while it is accelerating--
while the astronaut is exerting a force on it-- will be exerting
an equal and opposite force on the hand of the astronaut,
or on the astronaut itself. So the object will
accelerate in that direction, and while the
astronaut is pushing, the astronaut will
accelerate in this direction. So what you do is you throw
in the opposite direction and that'll allow the astronaut
to accelerate towards the space shuttle and hopefully
grab on to something.