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In a collision between a huge SUV and a small hybrid car, does the SUV exert a larger force on the hybrid than the hybrid exerts on the SUV?

1) True
2) False

User Munjal
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7.8k points

1 Answer

6 votes

Final answer:

The SUV and the small hybrid car exert equal and opposite forces on each other during a collision, as dictated by Newton's Third Law of Motion, making the statement False.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is whether, in a collision between a huge SUV and a small hybrid car, the SUV exerts a larger force on the hybrid than the hybrid exerts on the SUV. The answer to this question is False. According to Newton's Third Law of Motion, whenever two objects interact, they exert equal and opposite forces on each other.

This means that the force exerted by the SUV on the hybrid is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by the hybrid on the SUV, regardless of the size or mass of the vehicles involved.

Newton's Third Law can be confusing because we might intuitively think that a larger and more massive vehicle would exert a greater force during a collision. However, this law tells us that the forces are always equal and opposite. It's essential to note that this is true even if the results of the collision are visually very different for the two vehicles involved due to their different masses.

The smaller car might be pushed far away or suffer more damage, but the force it experienced from the SUV was equal to the force it exerted on the SUV.

The answer to this question is False.

User Akinola Olayinka
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8.2k points