Pushes and Pulls

Let's go on a hunt. Not for animals or treasure — for pushes and pulls. They are hiding all around you, right now, in your room, in your hands, in everything that moves.

Here is the whole secret, and it is beautifully simple:

A push moves something away from you.
A pull brings something towards you.

Push the door — it swings away. Pull the door — it comes back to you. That's it. Once you can spot a push and a pull, you can spot them everywhere.

Pushes and pulls are everywhere

You do dozens of them every single day without even thinking. Have a look:

You kick a ball — that's a push, the ball flies away.
You open a drawer by its handle — that's a pull, it slides towards you.
You push a swing to send a friend flying up high.
You pull a wagon along by its handle.
You push a shopping trolley down the aisle.
You pull up the zip on your coat.
You push the brush one way and pull it back the other way when you brush your teeth.

Look around and count them. Can you find five pushes and five pulls before you finish this page?

Try it yourself

Here is a little wagon. Choose Push or Pull and watch the arrow flip — a push points away, a pull points back. Then slide How hard? up and down: the harder you push or pull, the longer the arrow grows and the further the wagon travels.

The arrow is how we draw a force. It points the way the force goes, and a longer arrow means a stronger force.

Big pushes and little pushes

Not every push is the same. A push or a pull can be tiny or huge:

A gentle nudge to roll a marble a little way — a small force.
A big hard shove to move a heavy box — a large force.

And a force can go in any direction at all — up, down, left, right, this way, that way. You can push a toy car forwards, or pull it backwards, or push it sideways off the table. You can even push or pull the same toy in lots of different ways: pull it closer, push it away, then push it sideways. The force goes wherever you send it.

In a tug of war, two teams grab one rope and pull — but they pull in opposite directions! One team pulls left, the other pulls right. If both teams pull exactly as hard as each other, the rope doesn't move at all. But the moment one team pulls a little bit harder, the rope — and everyone on the losing team — slides their way. The bigger pull wins. Two pulls, pointing opposite ways, having an argument over one rope.

What a push or a pull can do

A force is busy. A single push or pull can:

Start something moving — a still ball rolls when you kick it.
Speed it up — push the swing again and it goes even higher.
Slow it down — put out your hands to catch a rolling ball.
Change its direction — bat a ball and it zooms off a brand-new way.

So a push or a pull isn't only for making things go. It can make things go faster, or slower, or turn a corner. Anything that starts, stops, or changes is being pushed or pulled by something.

A pull doesn't always speed things up. Grab a rolling ball and your pull slows it down and stops it. Pushes and pulls can slow things too.
A force doesn't have to make something move at all! Push as hard as you like on a big wall — it stays right where it is. You are pushing, but nothing moves. The force is real, even when nothing budges.

Here is the strangest push and pull of all. Hold two magnets near each other. Turn them one way and they jump together — a pull, with nothing but empty air in between! Turn one of them around, and now they push apart and won't let you squeeze them together, however hard you try.

A magnet can push and pull without touching at all. Almost every other push or pull needs you to touch the thing — but not a magnet. You'll meet this magic properly very soon.