Lack of resistance doesn't CAUSE anything to move - it just allows it to move without SLOWING it down.
Energy is required to put something into motion in the first place.
Think of this: (Since the olympics are going on) climb onto a curling stone on the ice. Next to somebody else also on a curling stone.
You push them - you both move equally in opposite directions.
The way you're thinking, it's because the other stone still has a little resistance on the ice, and that's why you move too. Because your'e pushing against that resistance.
That's dead on correct...
BUT - you're missing a critical component.
You're missing that it takes energy to move a mass, even without any resistance. It takes a force just to set mass into motion.
Pushing on that other curling stone, it wasn't just the ice resistance that allowed you to push against them. It was their mass too.
The resistance of the ice is A factor of course, BUT - it's only ONE of the factors.
Imagine somebody filled a bucket with lead and put that onto the other curling stone.
You push on it - this time you move back a lot faster than when it was just another person. It moves much more slowly.
Both stones still have the same ice resistance, but what's different now is the mass. It takes more force to move a larger mass.
The lead has significantly more mass than you, so it takes a lot more energy to make it move. All that extra energy you put into trying to move it ends up being shared between you an the other stone.
It's barely enough to make it move at all, while it send you flying backwards.
Remmber - the key is that the resistance from the ice is the same for either of you - it's the differenc in mass the explains the "resistance" to moving.
Just remove the ice from the equaition now. There's no resistance. You've removed one factor, but it still requires force to move the other stone.
More force if it has more mass, less force if it has less.
Again - the force is always distributed equally between the two objects in question.
The EFFECT of that shared force is what changes with the mass. The less massive will accelerate faster. The more massive will accelerate much more slowly.
Try pushing on a docked oil tanker. Its more than just water resistance resisting your effort. It's the mass.
In space, it's harder to push an oil tanker than it is to push say a golf ball.
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Today's Featured Article - A Lifetime of Farm Machinery - by Joe Michaels. I am a mechanical engineer by profession, specializing in powerplant work. I worked as a machinist and engine erector, with time spent overseas. I have always had a love for machinery, and an appreciation for farming and farm machinery. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Not a place one would associate with farms or farm machinery. I credit my parents for instilling a lot of good values, a respect for learning, a knowledge of various skills and a little knowledge of farming in me, amo
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