A stone and the earth attract each other with an equal and opposite force. Why then we see only the stone falling towards the earth but not rising towards the stone?

The mass of a stone is very small, due to which the gravitational force produces a large acceleration in it. Due to large acceleration of stone, we see stone falling towards the earth. The mass of earth is, however, very, very large. Due to the very large mass of the earth, the same gravitational force produces very, very small acceleration in the earth, that it cannot be observed. And hence we do not see the earth rising up towards the stone.


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