Re: Newton's 3rd Law

["W. Barlow Newbolt" <wnewbolt@liberty.uc.wlu.edu>]

On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Pang-Chieh Chou wrote:

> Can anyone share ideas on teaching Newton's Third Law?  What do you do in 
> labs, demo, lecture, simulation, worksheets, etc. when your students hit 
> this stumbling block (no pun intended) ? 
>
> Pang-Chieh Chou
> Elkins High School
> 7007 Flat Bank Drive
> Missouri City, TX 77459-6111
>
> phone:   (713) 261-7600
> fax:     (713) 261-8361
> email:   pchou@tenet.edu
...try to keep it from being an obstacle.  Different things help for different
students. Some relate to the fact that you can't push on something that won't
push back.  Some relate the the fact that momemtum needs to be conserved 
for an isolated system.  In summary, it helps if the third law is 
presented in such a way that it seems "natural"--then it never becomes a 
stumbling block.
					Barlow Newbolt
					Washington and Lee