State and explain the law of action and reaction, by giving two examples.

The Newton’s third law or the law of action and reaction states —

"To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction".

Example —

(a) Motion of boat in water — To move a boat ahead in water, the boatman pushes (action) the water backwards with his oar and the water exerts an equal and opposite force (reaction) in the forward direction on the boat due to which the boat moves ahead.

(b) Catching a ball — While catching a ball, the ball exerts a force (action) on the palm of cricketer and the cricketer exerts an equal force (reaction) on the ball to stop it.