Timeline for Newton's 3rd law... hitting drywall (which I break) vs hitting a brick (which breaks me)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
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| Jan 31 at 5:48 | comment | added | Ritz Ganguly | Ik I'm very late. And the answers relating to impulse are quite insightful about the entire action of you punching the wall and it breaking. But I think if we consider this situation instantaneously, then each particle of the wall that comes in contact with a force will momentarily apply an equal and opposite force on the particle(s) creating that force before getting pushed back and the reaction force ends but the action force continues, so your hand can keep moving forward. So basically, I think, the action force applying particles will be stationary for a very small moment. | |
| Jul 27, 2016 at 8:59 | comment | added | Jyrki Lahtonen | I think that looking at force (anything measured in lbs) is misleading here, when the momentum of your fist is more relevant. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 21:05 | answer | added | kamran | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 20:33 | comment | added | Steeven | @kleineg is on point | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 19:55 | history | protected | Qmechanic♦ | ||
| Jul 26, 2016 at 16:29 | vote | accept | Sidney | ||
| Jul 26, 2016 at 16:24 | answer | added | Cort Ammon | timeline score: 64 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:52 | comment | added | Sidney | @kleineg Not surprising. I should also probably check to make sure that 50 lbs would in fact break drywall (I'm not sure that it would unless it were a full 4x8 ft sheet) =D | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:50 | comment | added | kleineg | Also, just a nitpick, but the average person can punch with around 200-500 lbs of force. Professional martial artists and boxers can clock in the 1000-2000 lbs range. It is a lot more than most people think, that is why people can be seriously hurt in fistfights. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:47 | comment | added | kleineg | I think the cheap answer would be that you cannot hit a patch of drywall with 50 lbs of force if it would only take 30 lbs before breaking. You hit with 30 lbs, it hit you with 30 lbs, then it broke. The fact that you could have hit with 50 lbs doesn't matter. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:44 | comment | added | corsiKa | It's a big deal in paintballing - a paintball that breaks stings - a paintball that doesn't break hurts like a sunuva. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:44 | answer | added | Chet Miller | timeline score: 30 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:08 | history | edited | Sidney | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:04 | answer | added | Wolpertinger | timeline score: 8 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 15:04 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackPhysics/status/757954734888280064 | ||
| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:47 | history | edited | Wolpertinger | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
fixed Newton's law
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| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:41 | history | edited | Diracology | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:34 | answer | added | Diracology | timeline score: 12 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:31 | answer | added | docscience | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:16 | history | edited | auden | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:16 | comment | added | Emilio Pisanty | As a perhaps more real-world (and somewhat more puzzling) example, a martial artist that breaks a wooden plank will experience rather little pain, whereas failing to break it can cause some substantial damage. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:13 | comment | added | zh1 | It did hit you back with 50 lbs of force. It's just that 50 lbs is too much for the dry wall to handle without breaking. | |
| Jul 26, 2016 at 14:09 | history | asked | Sidney | CC BY-SA 3.0 |