Abstract
THE point mentioned by “Nemo” in your issue of March 29. (p. 511) is undoubtedly one that troubles most students at some stage or other, but there is no room for discussion about it; the matter lies in a nutshell: a body does not exert force upon itself. Think, for instance, of a horse and cart. The horse pulls the cart, and the cart pulls back the horse equally; how, then, can the cart move? The only puzzle lies in the false implication that the cart's pull-back is exerted upon the cart. Directly it is perceived that there is only one force acting on the cart, viz. the pull of the horse, no difficulty is felt as to why it moves. The “action” of A is not exerted upon A, but upon B. The “reaction” of B is not exerted upon B, but upon A. The time-rate of change of momentum of each and every body is equal to the total force acting upon it.
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LODGE, O. Force, and Newton's Third Law. Nature 37, 558 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/037558b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037558b0
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