Wouldn’t an equal and opposite be exerted on your hand, thus canceling out the force and having no net change on the ball?
Noticeably different from a rocket, where propelled material is the force that drives the rocket forward.
I used to remember the answer to this question, but my physics is kinda fuzzy.
In: Physics
If, as you say in you example, you push a ball in zero gravity, the ball will exert an equal and opposite force on you. The difference is inertia. Let’s say that the ball is considerably smaller than a human, a baseball for instance.
If you grab the ball and throw it like you would normally throw it, one handed in an arc over your shoulder, two things would happen. The ball would go forward as you intended, but you would also rotate backward around your center of gravity, as if you performed a backflip. The effect experienced by you would be less severe because of the difference in mass (and therefore inertia) between yourself and the smaller ball.
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