Driving down the road, you hit an insect. How does the force your car exerts on the insect compare to the force the insect exerts on the car?

Question

anonymous · Answer

First of all, the car is not stationary, it is moving with some velocity towards the insect.  
Secondly, the mass of the car is much greater than that of the insect, so the force applied by the car would be much greater than the force which is applied by the insect.

anonymous · Answer

Newton's 3rd law: the force of A on B is equal and opposite to the force of B on A. The forces applied would be equal. Yes, the insect might be squashed, but it will still apply the same force back onto the car, the car is simply more massive.

vincent-lyon.fr · Answer

nj1202 is right. It is a good example of the counter-intuitive aspect of Newton's third law.
Car and insect exert forces of same magnitude on each other.

anonymous · Answer

Where it's particularly bad for the bug is in the fact that his body doesn't uniformly change direction all at once. Not such a good thing to have the back of your head still decelerating after your face has stopped. :)