Assertion: While walking, the force exerted by the ground makes us move forward. Reason: It is a reaction force Is the reason correct explanation of the assertion?
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$\begingroup$ If the ground was perfectly flat and your shoes were perfectly flat and there was no fiction between them, then you could indeed not walk. You would simply slip in place, no matter how fast you could move your feet. $\endgroup$– FlatterMannCommented Oct 9, 2022 at 12:40
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It depends on what you call reaction.
If it means "the force exerted by the ground on your feet", then yes, friction is part of it. More precisely, you can split the reaction in two parts:
- the part normal to the ground, which prevents you from falling into the ground
- the part alongside the ground, which is the friction force
This is how things are taught in my country, with national directives to ensure some measure of uniformity in the body of knowledge students leave with.
But if you define the reaction of the ground only as the force perpendicular to the ground that prevents you from falling through it, then friction is just a separate force.
It doesn't change anything in the end, it's just a matter of definition.
