To say that a y exerts the same force on a speeding train as the train does on the y

sounds positively absurd. The train can easily move a y but the reverse cannot possibly
true. But is true and a y can move a train. To understand this better we need to look at
the situation at hand more closely.
Let us assume that the train exerts a force F
tf
on the y. Newtons third law then
says that the y exerts a force F
ft
on the train such that F
tf
= F
ft
(i.e. equal in
magnitude but opposite in direction). To analyse what happens to the train and to the y
once they have been subjected to force F
ft
and F
tf
, respectively, we need to make use
of Newtons second law,
ma =
d(mv)
dt
= F
net
, where a =
dv
dt
.
This is the nonrelativistic form of Newtons second law. I have have placed the subscript
net to make it explicit that a nonzero net force is required to change the momentum
p = mv (or the velocity v) of an object with mass m.
If the train has mass m
t
and is subjected to a (nonzero net) force F
ft
then, according
to Newtons second law, its acceleration is give by
a
t
=
F
ft
m
t
.
Similarly, denoting the mass of the y by m
f
and subjecting it to force F
tf
gives its
acceleration as
a
f
=
F
tf
m
f
=
F
ft
m
f
,
where we use F
tf
= F
ft
(as was told by Newtons third law). Let us look at the ratio
of a
t
(trains acceleration) and a
f
(ys acceleration):
r =
a
t
a
f
=
F
ft
/m
t
F
ft
/m
f
=
m
f
m
t
,
where the negative sign means that the two accelerations (or forces) are in the opposite
direction to each other. What does this tell us? Well, lets say the train has a mass of
about 50 tonnes (i.e. m
t
= 50 10
3
kg) and the y has a mass of about 0.01 grams (i.e.
m
f
= 0.01 10
3
kg). The ratio r is then
r = 2 10
10
,
which means that the acceleration of the train is 20 billion times smaller than the accel-
eration of the y (or that the acceleration of the y is 20 billion times larger than the
acceleration of the train). This is a HUGE dierence.
To say anything more concrete about what happens after the collision, well need to
use conservation of momentum, make assumptions about other forces, nature of collision,
etc. I will not do that here. I will, however, make the following comment. If the train is
stationary in vacuum and is hit by a y, the train will accelerate and move, albeit very
very very slowly.
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