When we drop a ball, it bounces back to the spot where we dropped it, due to the reaction forces exerted on it by the ground. However, if a person falls down (say, if we push them), why don't they come back to their initial position where they started their fall?
According to Newton's 3rd law of motion, to every action there is always an equal but opposite reaction. If we take the example of ball then it comes back with the same force as it falls down. But in the case of a human body, this law seems not to be applicable. Why?
Best Answer
Newton's third law just says when the person is hitting the floor the force the person exerts on the ground is equal to the force the ground exerts on the person at all times. i.e. all forces are interactions.
Newton's third law does not say that all collisions are elastic, which is what you are proposing. When someone hits the floor, most of the energy is absorbed by the person through deformation (as well as the floor, depending on what type of floor it is), but there is barely any rebound since people tend to not be very elastic. i.e. the deformation does not involve storing the energy to be released back into kinetic energy. Contrast this with a bouncy ball where much of the energy goes into deforming the ball, but since it is very elastic it is able to spring back and put energy back into motion. However, it is unlikely the collision is still perfectly elastic, as you seem to suggest in your question.
In summary, Newton's third law tells us that action-reaction force pairs must have equal magnitudes and opposite directions, but it doesn't tell us anything about what the magnitude of these forces actually are. Your misunderstanding likely comes from the imprecise usage of the words "action" and "reaction". In this case, these words refer to just forces, not entire processes. You can get some confusing questions if you don't understand this. For example, why is it that when I open my refrigerator that my refrigerator doesn't also open me?