High School

A hammer drives a nail into a piece of wood. Identify an action-reaction pair.

A. The hammer exerts a force on the nail; the wood exerts a force on the nail.
B. The hammer exerts a force on the nail; the hammer exerts a force on the wood.
C. The nail exerts a force on the hammer; the hammer exerts a force on the wood.
D. The hammer exerts a force on the nail; the nail exerts a force on the hammer.

Answer :

Newton's third law states that if an object A exerts a force on object B, then object B must exert a force of equal magnitude and opposite direction back on object A.

Let:

A = Hammer

B = Nail

so:

[tex]F_{AB}=-F_{BA}[/tex]

Therefore:

The hammer exerts a force on the nail; the nail exerts a force on the hammer.

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