Question

How can you differentiate between a contact force and a force at distance?

Answer 1

Contact force:When one or more forces act on a body, or on each other by staying in contact to the body or to each other, such forces are called contact forces; e.g. normal action reaction forces, force of tension, frictional force,etc.
Force at a distance(Non-contact force):When a force acts on body by maintaining a distance with the body,i.e. it does not stay in contact with the body, then such a force is called non-contact force; e.g. electrostatic force of attraction, magnetic force of attraction, etc.