# Newton's third law, action vs reaction

When I push a wall with my hand, the wall does the same and because both forces cancel out the sum of the forces applied by me on the wall and the wall on me is zero, plus the friction on the ground to keep me from sliding, neither me or the wall is displaced from its position.

Is there a preference over action or reaction? My doubt is: is the interaction between the bodies instantaneous, there is no time delay between action and reaction? And if there is no delay, does it matter if I'm assuming that I pressed the wall first or the wall did it first?

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To clarify, the forces do not cancel each other out. Forces only cancel out if they act on the same body; your push acts on the wall, while the wall's push acts on you, and so they cannot cancel. The reason you don't move is because of the friction of your feet on the ground opposing the push of the wall, and similarly, the wall doesn't move because it is anchored to the ground (ultimately by electrostatic forces). –  EtaZetaTheta May 14 at 19:54
And if you instead push a box, the box pushes you, but you move it. –  Davidmh May 14 at 19:59
Ah, forgot this little detail, the sum is zero, but the opposing forces are on different bodies. –  0 kelvin May 14 at 20:00
Note that pushing the wall is effectively electromagnetic forces (and the Pauli exclusion principle) at work. These interactions are not instantaneous, but instead propagate at the speed of light. –  Wouter May 14 at 20:08