The sinking of a car into an arrestor bed is not primarily due to Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Instead, it is primarily a result of the interaction between the car's tires and the materials used in the arrestor bed.
When a car drives onto an arrestor bed, it is typically designed to decelerate the vehicle by utilizing materials that provide high resistance to motion. These materials, such as loose gravel, sand, or other deformable substances, are specifically chosen to increase the friction between the car's tires and the bed.
As the car enters the arrestor bed, the tires interact with the loose material, which offers resistance to the car's motion. This resistance creates a force that opposes the car's movement and contributes to deceleration. The more the car sinks into the arrestor bed, the greater the resistance and deceleration force it experiences.
The sinking of the car into the bed is primarily a result of the deformability and compaction of the materials in the arrestor bed. As the car applies a downward force on the bed's surface, the loose material compacts and displaces, creating a depression or sinkage beneath the tires. This sinkage increases the interaction between the tires and the material, leading to higher frictional forces and a greater deceleration effect.
In summary, while Newton's third law is still relevant in the interaction between the car and the arrestor bed, the sinking phenomenon is primarily due to the high resistance provided by the materials and the resulting increase in friction rather than solely relying on the action-reaction principle.