Newton's Third Law

Have you ever thrown a ball at a wall and watched it bounce back? That’s an example of Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that for every action, there exists an equal and opposite reaction.

This means that when one object applies a force to another, the second object pushes back with the same force but in the opposite direction.

Imagine Liam on his skateboard. When he kicks backward against the ground, that's the action force. As a result, the ground pushes him forward with an equal force called the reaction force, making him move forward.

These action and reaction forces are always equal and opposite but never cancel out because they act on different objects.

This differs from balanced forces, which act on the same object and cancel out, resulting in no movement.

Now, picture two skateboarders facing each other. When they push against each other, each applies an action force.

The reaction forces push them apart with equal strength in opposite directions, causing both skateboarders to move away with the same force.