While driving down the road, a grasshopper strikes the windshield of a bus and makes a mess in front of the face of the driver. This is a good example of Newton's third law of motion. The action is the grasshopper hitting the windshield and the reaction is the windshield stopping the grasshopper. Which of the two forces is greater: the force on the grasshopper or the force on the windshield?

Question

Physics

Derek Tapia

10 July, 02:34

While driving down the road, a grasshopper strikes the windshield of a bus and makes a mess in front of the face of the driver. This is a good example of Newton's third law of motion. The action is the grasshopper hitting the windshield and the reaction is the windshield stopping the grasshopper. Which of the two forces is greater: the force on the grasshopper or the force on the windshield?

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Clayton Waller · Answer 1

Trick Question! Each force is the same size. For every action, there is an equal ... (equal!). The fact that the firefly splatters only means that with its smaller mass, it is less able to withstand the larger acceleration resulting from the interaction. Besides, fireflies have guts and bug guts have a tendency to be splatterable. Windshields don't have guts. There you have it.