How Did John Massis Move Two Railroad Cars with His Teeth?

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Homework Statement


In April 1974, John Massis of Belgium managed to move two passenger railroad cars. He did so by clamping his teeth down on a bit that was attached to the cars with a rope and then leaning backward while pressing his feet against the railway ties. The cars together weighed 700 kN (about 71 tons). Assume that he pulled with a constant force that was 2.5 times his body weight, at an upward angle θ of 33˚ from the horizontal. His mass was 79 kg, and he moved the cars by 3 m. Neglecting any retarding force from the wheel rotation, find the speed of the cars at the end of the pull.

Homework Equations



Fnet = Acceleration * Mass

ax = Fcos(theta)/ M

The Attempt at a Solution


I have absolutely NO idea what to do. The professor didn't go over any problems like this DX Help!
 
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So you have never seen any problems involving a mass being accelerated by a force?
 
Simon Bridge said:
So you have never seen any problems involving a mass being accelerated by a force?
No D:I tried the formula but couldn't find acceleration
 
Try drawing a free body diagram for the situation - what are the forces on the train?
Please show your best attempt so far.
 
copypacer said:
No D:I tried the formula but couldn't find acceleration

And, like trying to solve this problem of yours:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/forces-problem.811390/

you'll also need to resolve some forces into their components.

I can't comment on the quality of your instruction in this subject, but it seems you are lacking knowledge of some very basic concepts in simple vector mechanics. :frown: