Chapter 6: Newton's Third Law of Motion—Action and Reaction

FORCES AND INTERACTIONS

Skaters Away
What happens if you and a friend put on rollerskates and push off against each other? How about if just one of you pushes? This classroom activity comes from the UC Davis Aeronautics Internet Textbook.

NEWTON'S THIRD LAW

Newton's Third Law
Newton's third law states: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." What exactly does this mean? Find out in this interactive tutorial from The Physics Classroom.

Rockets and Newton's Laws
How do rockets work? Learn about the physics of rocket flight in this lesson.

IDENTIFYING ACTION AND REACTION

Baseball and Newton's Laws
Analyze the action and reaction forces of a baseball swing in this Quicktime movie (3363 k) from the Science of Sports site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Identifying Action and Reaction Force Pairs
Forces always come in pairs known as "action-reaction force pairs." Read this lesson from The Physics Classroom and try your luck at identifying action-reaction pairs.

ACTION AND REACTION ON DIFFERENT MASSES

How Do Rockets Work?
Find the answer to this question and many others in Louis A. Bloomfield's online book How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life.

Gun Recoil
Did you know that the recoil of a gun is an example of Newton's third law? Find out more in this lesson from The Physics of Everyday Stuff by Sam Hokin.

DO ACTION AND REACTION FORCES CANCEL?

Collisions
Find out how Newton's third law of motion is applied to collisions between two objects in this interactive tutorial from The Physics Classroom.

ACTION EQUALS REACTION

Balloon Jet Lab
Create your own balloon jet and use it to demonstrate Newton's third law of motion. This is one of many classroom activities available from the Aeronautics Internet Textbook at the University of California, Davis.

Unit 1: Learning Links
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11
Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16