Newton's third law

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• Examples of Newton's Third Law (in everyday life)

The English physicist Isaac Newton developed three important laws that have to do with the motion of bodies, a question addressed by mechanics.

The laws, broadly speaking, can be explained as follows:

• First law. Also known under the name of Law of Inertia, affirms that bodies always remain in their state of rest or with their uniform rectilinear motion, unless another body exerts some kind of force on it.
• Second law. Also known asFundamental principle of dynamics, states that the sum of all the forces exerted on a given body is proportional to its mass and acceleration.
• Third law. Also known as Principle of action and reaction, affirms that at the moment in which a certain body exerts some force on another, this other will always exert an identical force on it, but in the opposite direction. It must also be taken into account that the opposite forces will always be located on the same line.

• See also: Calculate acceleration

Examples of Newton's Third Law (in everyday life)

1. If we jump from a raft into the water, the raft recedes, while our body moves forward. This is an example of Newton's third law since there is action (the jump) and reaction (the raft recoil).
2. When we try to push someone while in a pool. What will happen to us, even without the intention of the other, we will regress.
3. When we are swimming in a pool, we look for a wall and push ourselves to get momentum. In this case, an action and a reaction are also detected.
4. When hammering a nail, it goes deeper and deeper into the wood when it is hammered, the hammer makes a backward movement, which is identified as the reaction of its own blow.
5. When an individual pushes another who has a similar body, not only will the person pushed back, but also the one who pushed him.
6. When rowing a boat, while we move the water backwards with the paddle, the water reacts by pushing the boat in the opposite direction.
7. When two people pull in opposite directions on the same rope and it remains at the same point, it is also observed that there is an action and a reaction.
8. When we walk, for example, on the beach, while with our feet we exert forward force with each step, we push the sand backwards.
9. The operation of an airplane makes it move forward as a result of the turbines pushing towards the opposite side, that is, backwards.
10. A rocket travels thanks to the propulsion that burned gunpowder gives it. Thus, while it goes backwards by the action of a force, the rocket moves forward by the action of the same force but in the opposite direction.

• Continue with: Scientific laws