So, from what I understand, Newton’s third law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I’m having a very hard time wrapping my head around it, as it seems as though if his law worked the way I interprete it to, pushing an object or denting an object would be impossible.
For example,
If someone were to push a book on a table, the force they applied on the book to push it, should be countered by an equal and opposite reaction force, therefore not allowing them to move the book.
In another example, if someone were to push a piece of metal, there should be an equal and opposite reaction force (normal contact force?) which would not allow the person to move the metal (can’t dent it), no matter how much force they use.
I guess what I would like to know would be why this is not the case in the two above examples, and what is it that I am not interpreting correctly with Newton’s third law.
Thank you!!
In: Physics
As far as the denting, the opposite force will still be exerted, but some of the energy that would have been transferred to the object gets used to squish the object instead.
When 2 pool balls hit each other, since they dont squish, you see almost all the energy transferred, and the opposite force pushes the ball away with lots of energy. However, when 2 cars hit each other, they are designed to absorb the force by deforming the metal. The opposite force is still exerted, but you dont see motion because it is absorbed by permanently changing the shape of the object.
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