Question

In a situation where you can't identify what force pairs are at work, which of the following statements is correct?

a) The forces must be in equilibrium.
b) There are no forces involved.
c) Action and reaction forces are at play.
d) It is impossible to determine the forces.

Answer 1

The correct answer is c) Action and reaction forces are at play, based on Newton's third law of motion, which states that forces always occur in pairs of equal magnitude but opposite directions.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you cannot identify what force pairs are at work in a situation, the correct statement is c) Action and reaction forces are at play. This concept is derived from Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, even when the forces are not immediately apparent, we can be certain that they are present and that they come in pairs. This means that if a force is exerted on an object, it must be exerted by something else, and the object will exert an equal and opposite force back on that 'something'. Furthermore, these forces act on different bodies and do not act on the same body, which explains why they do not cancel each other out within a single system, but they may cancel when considering the forces within the system as a whole.