* Scenario 1: You push the car to the right with a force of 5 Newtons (N). There's no other force acting on it. This means the net force on the car is 5 Newtons to the right. The car will move in that direction.

* Scenario 2: You push the car to the right with 5 N, but your friend pushes it to the left with 3 N. The forces are acting in opposite directions. The net force is 2 Newtons to the right (5 N - 3 N = 2 N). The car will move to the right, but slower than in Scenario 1 because the net force is smaller.

* Scenario 3: You push the car to the right with 5 N, and your friend pushes it to the left with 5 N. The forces are equal and opposite. The net force is zero. The car won't move, even though there are forces acting on it.

In short: Net force is the overall force acting on an object after considering all the forces acting on it. It's like a "sum" of all the forces, taking into account their directions.