A cart driver prods his horse to move forward. The horse refuses to budge and explains:
According to Newton's III Law, I am pulling the cart, with a certain force and the cart, in turn, pulls me back with an equal amount of force. As they are equal in magnitude and act in opposite directions, they cancel each other.
Do you agree with the explanation given by the horse? Support your answer with proper reasons.

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Solution

Yes, the horse explanation is right that cart and horse form action and reaction pair but there is also one another force which causes the whole system to move which is the muscular force by horse supported by the friction.

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Similar questions

Which of these statements are true?

(A)The horse applies a force on the cart and the cart pulls the horse back with a force equal and opposite in direction.
(B)The horse applies a force on the cart and the cart applies a force on the ground.
(C)The two forces mentioned in option A cancel each other.
(D)The two forces in option A are acting on two different bodies and don’t cancel each other.

A horse is harnessed to a cart. If the horse tries to pull the cart, the horse must exert a force on the cart. By Newton's third law the cart must then exert an equal and opposite force on the horse. Since the two forces are equal and opposite, they must add to zero, so Newton's second law tells us that the acceleration of the system must be zero and therefore no matter how hard the horse pulls, it can never move the cart.

When a horse exerts a force on cart , the cart exerts an equal and opposite force on the horse. Then how come the horse can manage to pull the cart ?

Q. A horse pulls forward on a carriage with a given force. By Newton's Third Law, the carriage must be pulling on the horse backward with an equal and opposite force. Given this, what explains why the horse and carriage can move forward?

Q. In a horse cart problem, the horse and cart applies equal and opposite force on each other and hence the cart will never move.

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