Join 60,000+ competitive exam aspirants
Which of the following situations is NOT an example of action and reaction forces?
A swimmer pushing water backwards
A bat hitting a cricket ball
A ball thrown upward comes back down due to the pull of gravity.
A rocket launching upwards
A ball thrown upward comes back down due to the pull of gravity.
Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Option C is not an example of this because gravity acting on a ball is a single force, not a pair of action-reaction forces.
Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Option C is not an example of this because gravity acting on a ball is a single force, not a pair of action-reaction forces.
If you push a wall, the wall pushes you (Action-Reaction). If a book sits on a table, gravity pulls it down (Force), but the 'falling' is the result of that force, not the interaction pair itself.
A.R.E.A: Action, Reaction, Equal, Acting on different objects.
FABтАЛ=тИТFBAтАЛ тАФ The force exerted by A on B is equal and opposite to the force exerted by B on A.
F=ma тАФ Newton's Second Law explaining motion due to gravity.
Action-reaction forces must act on two different bodies simultaneously. In the case of a falling ball, the Earth pulls the ball, and the ball pulls the Earth (a pair); however, the ball moving down is simply an effect of the gravitational force acting on the mass of the ball as described by Newton's Second Law (F=ma). Gravity itself is a fundamental force, not an interaction between an action and a reaction in the context of the law of motion.
Action and reaction forces always occur in pairs.
Action and reaction forces never cancel each other out because they act on different bodies.
Newton's Third Law applies to both contact and non-contact forces.
The gravitational pull of Earth on an object is an application of Universal Gravitation, while the motion is governed by Second Law.
Explains recoil of guns
Explains propulsion of rockets and birds
Walking on the ground
Jet engine propulsion
Option A: Swimmer pushes water backward (action), water pushes swimmer forward (reaction).
Option B: Bat exerts force on ball (action), ball exerts force on bat (reaction).
Option D: Rocket expels gas downward (action), gas pushes rocket upward (reaction).
C is correct тАФ Gravitational motion is a result of a force acting on a body, whereas Newton's Third Law specifically requires an interaction pair between two bodies.
Always identify the two bodies involved in an interaction; if you can't find a second body providing an opposite push/pull, it is likely not an action-reaction pair.