Resistance

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Resistance

Resistance is used by naive individuals to explain why things don't move when a force is applied to them. Resistance can explain "why a string gets taut when used to pull an object" (diSessa, 1993). People believe that force and resistance will compete with each other to determine motion. It is very hard for people to grasp the concept that objects push back, so they think that the object is resisting. diSessa provide the example of a person pushing against a wall. The naive physicist believes that the wall is resisting their force, they do not realize that the wall is pushing back with an equal force (diSessa, 1993).