The genuine effects of the shape of the body in Newton’s Third Law of Motion lead to its generalization

Abstract

Newton has expressed the third law of action and reaction in terms of force, i.e. Reaction (F_BA) = − Action (F_AB). In the standard textbooks, the law is understood with the help of many qualitative examples and thus needs to be understood quantitatively.

In the past decade, some deviations from Newton’s third law have been reported by scientists in state-of-the-art experiments in electromagnetism, statistical physics, astronautics, biological and chemical physics, etc. These independent observations compel us to look at the author’s generalized form of the third law (within the domain of Newtonian mechanics). Here, the reaction is also theorized to depend on the shape, size, composition of bodies, characteristics of the target, or other relevant factors. Thus, the purported equation becomes Reaction (F_BA) = −Action (F_AB) [K_shape × K_composition × K_target × K_other]. For simplicity, the discussion involves falling and rebounding bodies, the recoil of guns, etc. The typical shapes of bodies may be semi-spherical, polygon, long-thin pipe, flat, or any typical shape, etc. If the mass and composition of the bodies are precisely the same, then anomalous results would be because of the shape of the body only. The effect of the shape may be confirmed in specific experiments.