How Do You Calculate the Forces in a Tug of War?

[w0lverine]

I need to find the magnitude of the force exerted from one boy onto another in a game of tug of war and vice versa.
Peter weighs 539 N, John weighs 392 N. During the course of the game Peter accelerates at a rate of 3.0 m/s^2.

First the magnitude of force Peter exerts onto John.
Then the magnitude of force John exerts onto Peter.
Then the magnitude of Peter's acceleration towards John.

I'm just so lost, I have so many formulae in my head and I don't know which one to use.

 

[PhanthomJay]

I think you are lost partly because you may have John and Peter mixed up. And partly because the problem is not clearly worded. Try starting by finding the force that John exerts on Peter, by drawing a free body diagram of Peter to identify the forces acting on him. Assume that Peter's acceleration, given as 3 m/s/s, is with respect to the ground, and use Newton's 2nd law.