This was a serious conversation at my job today. My boss says that since there is no gravity in space the force would just push the punched and the puncher away from each other with no damage taking place. I say the force will be lessened but it will still cause damage.
Thoughts?
Edit: this thread now stands as a monument to my bosses lack of physics knowledge and my lack of confidence in my knowledge of physics.
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Equal and opposite reaction. The same force would apply to the puncher as the punched but because of the nerve distribution it would hurt the punched more. There is also much to be said about momentum and how the puncher will have some of his equal force applied to the stopping of the fist. Your boss needs to read up on simple laws of physics.