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Which one of the following conservation laws is a consequence of Newton's third law of motion ?
Explanation
Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This principle is fundamentally linked to the conservation of momentum. When two objects interact in an isolated system, the forces they exert on each other are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. Since force is defined as the rate of change of momentum, these equal and opposite forces acting over the same duration result in equal and opposite changes in momentum for the two objects. Consequently, the total momentum of the system remains constant, as the internal changes cancel each other out. While some modern physics perspectives view conservation laws as more fundamental, in classical mechanics, the conservation of linear momentum is a direct consequence of Newton's third law.