So a car moves, because the wheels exert a force on the ground which exert an opposite force back on the wheels causing it to move forward. The car then exerts this force on the air and the air back onto the car. Shouldn’t the resulting force on the car be 0 Newton then? Because the force the ground exerts on the car is the same as the force the air exerts on the car, thus cancelling each ofher out?
In: 0
The air moves out of the way. The amount of equal-and-opposite force will match the force needed to move the air away.
Think about punching a piece of paper being held up in front of you. Because your hand will go through the paper, the entire force of your punch wouldn’t go back to your hand (like it would if you punched a hard wall). Only the amount you imparted to the paper before it tore.
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