Moose Power

By Kody Lyng

Over this break, I watched the newest Disney animation, Frozen. [SPOILER] In the film, a moose by the name of Sven must outrun a pack of wolves while pulling a sled that is carrying two humans. I would like to take a closer look Sven’s useful power output from the time he notices the wolves to the time he outruns them. A few assumptions must first be made:

Sven exerts a force of 1000 N at an angle 15 degrees above the horizontal

Sven starts at rest with a final velocity of 35mi/hr

Sven travelled 500 meters

The path travelled is completely horizontal

Power = Work/Time

Work = Distance*Force*cos(thetat)

W = (500m)*(500N)*cos(15) = 241,000 Joules

35miles/hour*1,610 m/1 mi*3600s/1 hr = 15.7 m/s

Distance = (v_inital + v_final)/2*time

time = (500m*2)/(15.7m/s) = 63.7 seconds

Power = 241,000 J/63.7 s = 3,800 Watts

746 Watts = 1 Horsepower

3,800 Watts = 5.1 Horsepower