A group of students conducted a lab in which they rolled a three-wheeled cart down an inclined plane. For each trial they recorded the height of the incline, the length of the plane, and the cart’s acceleration.  When graphed in EXCEL, the group obtained the equation y = 9.518x + 0.292 for their data’s trend line.

 

(a) Which group of graphs for position vs time and velocity vs time were shown on the computer’s software for each trial? (the graphs are arranged vertically as they were on the screen)

(b) How did the student operating the computer obtain the cart’s average acceleration during each trial?

(c) Construct a free body diagram (FBD) of the cart while it is rolling down the incline.

(d) According to the trend line’s equation, what would be the cart’s acceleration if Θ could equal 90º?

(e) Would your answer to part (c) be considered an extrapolated or an interpolated value? Explain your choice.

(f) Does your value in part (d) seem feasible based on the procedure and equipment used in the experiment? yes? or no?

Why or why not?