FORCES BETWEEN OBJECTS

Equal and opposite forces

Whenever two ojects push or pull on eachother, they exert equaol and opposite forces on one another. The unit of force is the newton (N).

• A boxer who punches an opponent with the force of 100N experiences a reverse force of 100N from his opponent.
• Two roller skaters pull on opposite ends of a rope. the skaters move towards each other. This is because the pull on each other with equal and opposite forces. Two neton meters could be used to show this.

a) A hammer hits a nail with a force of 50N. What is the size and direction of the force of the nail on the hammer?

--Upward force of 50N

In the mud

A car stuck in the mud can be difficult to shift. A tractor can be very useful here. At any stage, the force of the rope on the car is equal and opposite to the force of the car on the rope.

To pull the car out of the mud, the force of the ground on the tractor needs to be greater than the force of the mud on the car. These two forces arent neccessarily eqaul to one another…