During the compression and expansion phases of two colliding bodies, each body generates reactive forces on the other at the points of contact, such that the sum reaction forces of one body are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the forces of the other, as per the Newtonian principle of action and reaction. If the effects of friction are ignored, a collision is seen as affecting only the component of the velocities that are directed along the contact normal and as leaving the tangential components unaffected