Newton's Laws of Motion/Third Law
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Physical Law
Newton's third law of motion is one of three physical laws that forms the basis for classical mechanics.
Statement of Law
- To every force there is always an equal and opposite force.
- That is, the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.
As Isaac Newton himself put it:
- Whenever one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body exerts a force on the first body. These forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
Also known as
Newton's Third Law of Motion is also referred to as:
or:
Hence its usual wording:
Some sources suggest that it may also be called the Law of Interaction.
It is also often referred to as just Newton's Third Law.
Also see
Source of Name
This entry was named for Isaac Newton.
Sources
- 1937: Eric Temple Bell: Men of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text{VI}$: On the Seashore
- 1965: J.W. Leech: Classical Mechanics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {I}$: Introduction: $(3)$
- 1966: Isaac Asimov: Understanding Physics ... (previous) ... (next): $\text {I}$: Motion, Sound and Heat: Chapter $3$: The Laws of Motion: Action and Reaction
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Newton's laws of motion
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Newton's laws of motion
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Newton's laws of motion