Question bank: Dynamics: Newton's 3rd Law

A student is studying Newton's 3rd law and decides to conduct an experiment to test his understanding of the action-reaction law. He gets on a skateboard and holds a basketball. Then, he throws the ball forward while standing still on the skateboard. Considering the forces involved in this situation and Newton's 3rd law, what will be the movement of the student and the skateboard after the ball is thrown?

In a soccer match, two players from different teams collide while trying to reach the ball. They exert forces on each other during the collision. Keeping in mind Newton's 3rd Law, also known as the Law of Action and Reaction, answer the following items: a) Explain the relationship between the forces exerted by the players on each other and why this applies to this situation. b) Describe how the masses and accelerations of the players affect the outcome of the collision, relating them to the Law of Action and Reaction. c) Assuming one of the players has a greater mass than the other, explain qualitatively the effect of this mass difference on the acceleration after the collision of both, based on Newton's 3rd Law.

In space, a spaceship is moving and decides to use a propulsion jet to change its velocity. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the forces acting on the spaceship during the emission of the jet, according to the 3rd Law of Newton. Determine the relationship between force F1, applied by the spaceship's engine on the expelled gas, and force F2, experienced by the spaceship due to the expulsion of the gas.

When walking on a flat and horizontal surface, a person exerts a force of 600 N to the right on the ground. According to Newton's 3rd law, the ground exerts on the person a reaction force of the same magnitude and direction, but in the opposite direction. What is the magnitude of the reaction force that the ground exerts on the person?

A 10 kg wooden block is placed on an inclined plane that forms a 30-degree angle with the horizontal. The block moves up the inclined plane with a constant acceleration of 2 m/s², despite the frictional force between the block and the plane. Considering that the block is subject to three main forces: weight, normal force, and frictional force, and that the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s², calculate: 1. The magnitude of the frictional force acting on the block. 2. The normal force that the inclined plane exerts on the block. Use Newton's third law to demonstrate that the normal force and the frictional force are appropriate reactions to the weight of the block and the normal component of the weight, respectively, and relate them to the static friction coefficient between the block and the inclined plane. Consider sin(30°) = 0.5 and cos(30°) = 0.87.