A musician hits a drum with a drumstick. In three to five sentences, explain the collision forces between the drum and drumstick based on Newton’s third law of motion and how these forces could be represented with a diagram.

Answer 1

When a musician hits a drum with a drumstick, the drumstick exerts a force on the drum in the direction of the impact. According to Newton's third law of motion, the drum responds by exerting an equal and opposite force back onto the drumstick. This interaction creates a cycle of action and reaction, where the force from the drumstick causes the membrane of the drum to vibrate, producing sound. In a diagram, these forces can be represented with arrows indicating the direction and magnitude of each force, with one arrow labeled as the force applied by the drumstick on the drum and the opposite arrow indicating the force applied by the drum on the drumstick.