A team of eight dogs pulls a sled with waxed wood runners on wet snow (mush!). The dogs have average masses of 20.0 kg, and the loaded sled with its rider has a mass of 245 kg. (Assume that friction is not negligible.)

(a) Calculate the acceleration of the dogs starting from rest if each dog exerts an average force of 185 N backward on the snow.
(b) Calculate the force in the coupling between the dogs and the sled.

(a) Acceleration of the dogs starting from rest if each dog exerts an average force of 185 N backward on the snow is 2.88 .

(b) The force in the coupling between the dogs and the sled is 1041.74 N.

Explanation:

(a)  Formula to calculate acceleration is as follows.

                =

             a =

                =

                =

                 =

                 = 2.88

Therefore, acceleration of the dogs starting from rest if each dog exerts an average force of 185 N backward on the snow is 2.88 .

(b)   According to Newton's second law of motion we will calculate the value of T as follows.

                      T =

                          =

                           = 705.6 + 336.14

                           = 1041.74 N

Therefore, we can conclude that the force in the coupling between the dogs and the sled is 1041.74 N.