Question

A truck traveling down the highway collides with a slower moving mosquito traveling in the same direction. Which of the following statements is true during the collision? A. the truck exerts a larger force on the mosquito exerts on the truck. B. The truck and mosquito exert the same size force on each other. C. The mosquito exerts a larger force on the truck than the truck exerts on the mosquito. What law of physics did you use in determining your answer?

Answer 1

Answer:

B. The truck and mosquito exert the same size force on each other.

Explanation:

Newton's third law (law of action-reaction) states that

"When an object A exerts a force (action) on an object B, then object B exerts an equal and opposite force (reaction) on object A"

In this case, we can call

object A = the truck

object B = the mosquito

Thereforce according to Newton's third law, the force exerted by the truck on the mosquito is equal in magnitude to the force exerted by the mosquito on the truck (and in opposite direction).

The reason for which the mosquito will experience much more damage is the fact that the mosquito's mass is much smaller than the truck's mass, and since the acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass:

$a=\frac{F}{m}$

the mosquito will experience a much larger deceleration than the truck, therefore much more damage.