Description

Using a conventional notation for representing forces on diagrams, students were presented with questions on the interaction between two objects. The results show that complete understanding of Newton's Third Law of Motion is quite rare, and that some problems relate to misunderstanding which force acts on each body. The use of the terms'action' and'reaction' in this specific context, compared with their general use, was also found to be misleading.

Misconceptions

More from this issue

The double-wall paper cup is an everyday object that can be used in the laboratory to study heat transfer. The experiment described here has been...

Jan 2017
Journal Article

Students often struggle to determine whether changes in matter are physical or chemical, for example, they may have difficulty labelling a candle...

Jan 2017
Journal Article

Many students are unclear about what van der Waals and London forces are if they consult several textbooks. To clarify, van der Waals forces...

Jan 2017
Journal Article