ocr: What are forces? Forces push and pull things, making them change shape, speed up or slow down, or change direction. FLIPPER MOVEMENT - le - - - > - - - A - - FORCE A pinball flipper exerts a force that changes the pinball's direction; a steam roller exerts a force that flattens pavement, and car brakes exert a force on the wheels that slows the car down. The forces described above are all contact forces = ones where one object pushes directly on another. However, things do not have to touch each other in order to exert a force. For example, a ball thrown into the air will fall back down due to ...