Contact forces are the pushes or pulls that happen when things touch each other. Here are a few examples:
Pushing or Pulling: When you push or pull something, that's a contact force. Like when you slide a book across a table.
Holding Up: When you put something on a surface, like a book on a table, the table pushes up on the book. We call this the normal force. It's like a support force.
Friction: When you try to slide something on a surface, it can be hard to move. That's because of friction. It's like a force that tries to stop things from sliding.
Tension: If you have a rope and you pull it tight, that creates a contact force called tension.
Air Resistance: When you move through the air, the air pushes back a bit. We call this air resistance. It's why a parachute slows you down.
Spring Force: If you stretch or compress a spring, it pushes back. This is called the spring force.