A hammer hits a nail with a force of 50 N to the right, and the nail accelerates.

Question

(L. 8) A hammer hits a nail with a force of 50 N to the right, and the nail accelerates. Which of the following statements correctly represents Newton’s third law and the interaction between the nail and hammer?

1)The nail exerts a force greater than 50 N to the left on the hammer because the forces on the nail must be unbalanced for the nail to accelerate.

2) The nail exerts 50 N of force to the left on the hammer because these two forces are an action-reaction pair.

3) The nail exerts a force less than 50 N to the left on the hammer because the forces on the nail must be unbalanced for the nail to accelerate.

4) The nail does not exert any force on the hammer because the hammer is moving towards the nail.

I had already tried options 1 and 3, but now that i re-read the question i think it's option 2?

Answer 1

The fact that the question mentions Newton’s Third Law the correct response is option 2