PHYSICS

ACTION AND REACTION: NEWTON’S THIRD LAW.

Teacher: Telman Askeraliyev, MSc, Italy
 NEWTON’S THIRD LAW
For every action force, there must be an equal and opposite
reaction force. Forces occur in pairs.

Action

Reaction Reaction Action

 ACTING AND REACTING FORCES

The action force is exerted by

the _____ bar
hands on the _____.

The reaction force is exerted Action

bar on the _____.
by the _____ hands

Reaction
 ACTING AND REACTING FORCES
In every interaction, the forces always occur only in pairs,
BUT these forces act on two different bodies.

Common definition:
- to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
is very dangerous, so please do not use it. It is not defined what is
action and what is reaction, so it looks as if we were talking about one
body, but that’s not true.
These forces act on different bodies.
 ACTION - REACTION
•When the rocket fuel is ignited, a hot gas is produced.
•As the gas molecules collide with the inside engine walls, the
walls exert a force that pushes them out of the bottom of the
engine.
 ACTION - REACTION

•This downward push is the action force.

•The reaction force is the upward push on the rocket engine by
the gas molecules.
•This is the thrust that propels the rocket upward.
EXPERIMENT - WATER ROCKET EXPERIMENT
NORMAL FORCE
NORMAL FORCE
 EXAMPLES
You push the water backward,
the water pushes you forward.
 EXAMPLES
action: tire pushes road
reaction: road pushes tire
 EXAMPLES
action: foot pushes the ground
reaction: the ground pushes the foot that
propels the turtle forward
EXAMPLES

action: cannon pushes the

cannonball
reaction: cannonball pushes
the cannon (recoil)
The same force F (opposite
direction)
 THIRD LAW
To every action, there is always an
opposed but equal reaction. More
formally, the law states that for every
force exerted by object A on object B,
there is an equal but opposite force
exerted by object B on object A.

FAB = –FBA
THIRD LAW
For example, when you hit your hand
against your desk, your hand exerts
a force on the desk. Simultaneously,
the desk exerts a force of equal
magnitude in the opposite direction
on your hand. Physical contact is not
necessary for Newton’s third law; the
mutual gravitational pull between the
Earth and the Moon traverses
hundreds of thousands of kilometers
of space.
 1 - QUIZ
A 60-kg athlete exerts a force on a 10-kg skateboard. If she receives
an acceleration of 4 m/s2, what is the acceleration of the
skateboard?
 2 - QUIZ
A woman riding a bicycle collides head-on with a
parked school bus. Which object feels greater force?
 3 - QUIZ

Explain Newton’s third law of motion.

 4 - QUIZ
If they are “equal but opposite,” why don’t action-reaction
pairs cancel?
 5 - QUIZ
If you hold a backpack in you hand, the force of gravity pulls it
downward. What
force keeps it from falling to the ground?
LESSON TAKEAWAYS!
THANK YOU!