Re: Newton's Third Law and Inertia

On 2025-04-05 20:31:24 +0000, Luigi Fortunati said:

Newton's third law says that if body A exerts a force on body B, body B
reacts with an equal and opposite force against body A.
 
Newton, speaking of inertia, says: "A body exerts this force [inertia]
only, when another force, impressed upon it, endeavors to change its
condition".
 
It seems that he is talking about exactly the same forces.
 
If not, what differences are there between the two?

Newton's language and the language of Motte's translation are archaic.
Current language is cleared but it was developed much later.

Inertia is not a force. It is a phenomenon. Force is a number or vector
that quantifies an interaction.

--
Mikko