Physics In Dog Mushing

There are multiple aspects of physics involved in dog mushing. To start off a sled sitting at rest has forces acting on it such as a downward force of gravity on the sled and its load, the upward force on it from the ground, and a static frictional force keeping it from moving. When the sled is moving then it has gravitational and kinetic friction force acting on it in addition to the force the dogs are exerting on it, which cause it to move. As the dogs pull the sled they give the sled a velocity, and since dogs are not perfect machines they will not go at a constant velocity, which also means that the sled and dogs will have an acceleration value.

mush

image by me