Which best describes the forces identified by newton’s third law of motion?

equal and acting on different objects
equal and acting on the same object
unequal and acting on different objects
unequal and acting on the same object

Newton's  third law states that action and reaction are always equal and opposite.

Let us consider two bodies  A and B .Whenever a body A imparts some amount of force on body B,the force exerted by body A is called action. The body B  will also exert same amount of force on body A called reaction.

From above we see that action and reaction act on two different objects. The direction of action and that of reaction is also opposite.whenever a ball moving towards right strikes a wall, the ball imparts force on the wall which is towards right. The wall will exert same amount of force on the ball towards left.

Action and reaction can not act on the same bodies.If they will act on same body,then they will cancel each other .Hence no force will be imparted on the body under consideration which is impossible.

Hence out of the four options given in the question ,only option 1 is the correct.

Option (a) Equal and acting on different direction, best describes the force identified by Newton's third law.

Newton's third law of motion states that for every action there is equal and opposite reaction. which means the forces are equal in magnitude but working in opposite (different) direction.

hypothesising or postulating

c. newton's third law of motion