Exciting Physics Lesson: Newton's Third Law of Motion

Why does the wagon still accelerates despite exerting an equal force on the horse?

A horse exerts 500 N of force on a heavy wagon. The wagon pulls back on the horse with an equal force. Why does the wagon still accelerates?

Explanation:

The wagon still accelerates despite exerting an equal force on the horse because of Newton's third law of motion.

Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force back on the first object.

In this scenario, the horse exerts a force of 500 N on the wagon, and as a reaction, the wagon pulls back on the horse with an equal force of 500 N. Despite the equal and opposite forces, the wagon still accelerates.

This is because the forces act on different objects. The 500 N force exerted by the horse on the wagon causes the wagon to accelerate forward. At the same time, the 500 N force exerted by the wagon on the horse does not affect the horse's motion significantly, as the horse is generally much larger and more massive than the wagon.

As a result, the net force acting on the wagon is not zero, leading to its acceleration. The wagon experiences a forward force from the horse and a negligible backward force from the wagon itself, allowing it to accelerate in the direction of the applied force.

Newton's third law of motion explains why the wagon can still accelerate even with equal and opposite forces acting on it. It's a fascinating principle of physics that helps us understand the interactions between objects in motion.