According to the third law of motion when we push on an object, the object pushes back on us with an equal and opposite force. If the object is a massive truck parked along the roadside, it will probably not move. A student justifies this by answering that the two opposite and equal forces cancel each other. Comment on logic and explain why the truck does not move.
Because of the huge mass of the truck, the force of static friction is very high. The force applied by the student is unable to overcome the static friction and hence he is unable to move the truck. In this case, the net unbalanced force in either direction is zero which is the reason of no motion happening here. The force applied by the student and the force because of static friction are cancelling out each other. Hence, the rationale given by the student is correct.