Jump to content
  • entries
    15
  • comments
    6
  • views
    16,711

Physics of Dog Mushing


ihsseniorhill

4,429 views

blog-0997732001383728258.jpgDog mushing is better know as dog race sledding and if you've seen snow dogs you know what i'm talking about if not......... I have no words for you..... but as quick summary it is a team of dogs( trained Eskimo dogs,

Siberian Huskies<3 Samoyeds or Alaskan Malamutes) who pull a sled controlled by a 'musher'. And of course dog mushing = physics. The main connections are through velocity, acceleration, friction and force.

On the sled at rest there is friction, and gravity pulling the sled down and the ground pushing the sled up. the dogs then act as a net force and pull the sled forwards, making the sled accelerate. The more mass on the sled (like the gear and the musher) means the more inertia you have. This can be bad in the idea that inertia is the tendency of an object to resist a change in velocity so too much gear can make accelerating a very difficult task requiring a greater force(meaning more dogs). Force =mass x acceleration meaning a team of ten dogs of equal mass traveling at twenty miles an hour will have more force than a team of ten dogs of equal mass traveling at five miles an hour. so a musher in a race focused on winning will use more dogs because with the added masses, the musher will have more force to overcome obstacles, such as snowy passes and hills.The additional weight of your gear will also cause the force of friction to increase between the ground and the sled which will slow down our acceleration. But friction can also be a good thing when you need to slow down for turns. The mushers actually build the sleds so that when they lean to one side the sled digs into the ground creating more friction to make sharp turns.But the friction in the front of the sled is still very low which allows the dogs to still be able to pull the sled around the corner. There is also a break on the sled the mushers can step on which digs into the ground too and allows for quick stops in emergencies

So overall the musher who wins will be the musher who is physics savvy

1 Comment


Recommended Comments

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...