Newton's third law states that for every force applied to an object, there is an equal force directed in the opposite direction. Contrary to what you might have heard, this law states that when you push something, it pushes back.
Now you might be thinking, how can we ever get something to move, if it pushes back when we push it? The catch is, multiple things get different pushes. To visualize this, the picture below illustrates a few examples.
First, the table exerts and equal force in the opposite direction of gravity to hold the bowling ball up. This is a simple illustration of what Newton's third law states. the negative sign in the equation means the forces oppose one another.
To illustrate this further, with more practicality, a boat towing another boat is illustrated. Each arrow represents the forces being applied along with their opposites. The tug exerts a forward force and an opposing force is seen in the water which is propelled backwards. The large boat is being pulled by the tug but is being opposed by the resistance of the water.
So image you are walking down the street. Your legs are pushing you forward but there is always an opposite force. The ground is actually pushing back (we will cover this in more detail later). This is what keeps your foot still and in this instance is in the form of friction.
This is a tough concept to fully learn and ingest. So just take a few minutes to think about some actions and opposing actions which you encounter every day and hopefully it should start to make more sense. If you are still having trouble, leave me a comment about what you are having trouble with and I will try to clear up the confusion.
This concludes the learning portion of our mini series. In the next few lessons we will apply what we have just learned to some practical, real life instances so you can get a greater understanding of the importance and uses of these concepts.
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