The player must then run up to the ball in order to catch it because the force of friction is now in play. Friction is the force that causes the softball to have a net, total, force. As mentioned by teacher Mrs. Dowell, “Net forces cause acceleration” (Michelle 6). Because the force of friction is the only force acting upon the ball horizontally, there is an acceleration slowing the softball down to a stop. When the player finally reaches the ball, Newton’s 3rd law, that “[f]or every action force / (object A applies a force to object B) / there is an equal and opposite reaction force / (Object B applies a force to object A)”, begins to make itself clear (18). So when the softball rolls into the glove of the player, at the same instant, the force that the softball exerts on the glove is equal an opposite to the force the glove pushes back onto the softball. The result from this is that the net force causes the softball to come to a stop in the player’s glove. The softball was in motion, and because it was acted upon by an outside net force, including the softball glove, it came to a rest.
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