Two people are having a tug-of-war on a frictionless surface while standing on a sled. If they pull with forces of 200 N and 300 N in opposite directions, and their masses are 60 kg and 75 kg, respectively, calculate the sled's acceleration.
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To calculate the acceleration of the sled, we need to find the net force acting on the system.
The net force is the difference between the two forces:
Net force = 300 N - 200 N = 100 N
To calculate the acceleration, we can use Newton's second law of motion:
net force = mass * acceleration
Rearranging the formula to find acceleration, we get:
acceleration = net force / mass
Substituting the values, we have:
acceleration = 100 N / (60 kg + 75 kg)
= 100 N / 135 kg
≈ 0.74 m/s^2
Therefore, the sled's acceleration is approximately 0.74 m/s^2.