Why Does the Desk Lamp Move Despite Equal and Opposite Forces?

[Mo]

Hello all, need a little bit of help understanding Newton's third Law.

It states that:

" While body A exerts a force on body B, body B exerts an equal and opposite force on body A"

Okay, i can understand that.I also understand that the force are acting upon different bodies.

so (and here's the question..) if i push my desklamp across the .. desk.. then i am exerting a force in one direction on the lamp, and it is exerting an equal and opposite force on my hand.

If so, why can i still get the desklamp to move. In my textbook it tells me that the forces do not cancel each other out, because they act on different bodies, but .. still ... i obviously don't understand it all that well.

Okay the next question from the book was

Explain why forces occur only in pairs"

Is it simply enough to say: Whenever one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body always eerts a force on the first body, hence forces occur only in pairs.

Help + Advice please!

Regards,
Mo

 

[dextercioby]

Hello all, need a little bit of help understanding Newton's third Law.

It states that:

" While body A exerts a force on body B, body B exerts an equal and opposite force on body A"

Okay, i can understand that.I also understand that the force are acting upon different bodies.

so (and here's the question..) if i push my desklamp across the .. desk.. then i am exerting a force in one direction on the lamp, and it is exerting an equal and opposite force on my hand.

If so, why can i still get the desklamp to move. In my textbook it tells me that the forces do not cancel each other out, because they act on different bodies, but .. still ... i obviously don't understand it all that well.

The 3 laws of Newton do not act independent of each other.U'll have to use them at the same time.The answer to your 'dilemma' is that,according to the second law,to each force corresponds an acceleration.In your case,the hand that pushes the lamp gives it an acceleration equal to the ratio between the force and the lamps mass.The total force acting on the lamp is just the force u're using to push it along the table.Of course,nthere's the friction force,too,but that,if the coefficient is small,doesn't alter the results significantly.

Daniel.

 

[Mo]

Thanks for your reply, but I am still not 100% , am i right in saying that the reason that my hand never acclerated off in the opposite direction (after all the lamp is exerting a force on my hand in the opposite direction) is because of the ratio between force and mass (making it a very small acceleration?)

 

[dextercioby]

Thanks for your reply, but I am still not 100% , am i right in saying that the reason that my hand never acclerated off in the opposite direction (after all the lamp is exerting a force on my hand in the opposite direction) is because of the ratio between force and mass (making it a very small acceleration?)

It's not only your hand,yer whole body should be accelerating in the opposite direction with a tiny acceleration (due to the big ratio of masses:yours & the lamps).You don't move,because of the friction between your feet and and the floor,or between your butt and the chair your butt uses to relax...

Daniel.

 

[Mo]

Thanks for your help :)

Regards.
Mo