Is the shape of your graph in agreement with newtons second

Question

Experiment 1: Newton's Second Law

Analysis

Fixed Total Mass

• Calculate the mean time for each trial, and then use those values to calculate the acceleration for each trial.
• Make a graph of your measured acceleration versus the force (m_sg)
• Is the shape of your graph in agreement with Newton's second law? Why or why not?
• What should the slope of your graph be? Hint: look at equation 1.1. Calculate the percent error between the accepted value and the your slope

Fixed Acceleration

• Calculate the mean time for each trial, and then use those values to calculate the acceleration for each trial
• Make a graph of your measured acceleration versus the inverse of the total mass (1/m_g+m_s)
• Is the shape of your graph in agreement with Newton's second law? Why or why not?
• What should the theoretical slope of your line be? Calculate the percent error for your slope value.

Measuring Velocity

• Calculate the acceleration for each trial; now compare your results with the acceleration you obtained for each from the fixed total mass part.
• Between the methods for finding acceleration for the fixed total mass, which one is more accurate? Why?