Final answer:
The characteristic of Maria's graph that would best support her claim of accelerating during the race is C) The line on a speed-versus-time graph goes up as time increases, which indicates increasing speed over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
If Maria claims she accelerated as the race went on, the characteristic of her graph that would best support her claim is C) The line on a speed-versus-time graph goes up as time increases. Acceleration refers to an increase in speed over time, and on a speed-versus-time graph, this would be represented by an upward-sloping line. As Maria's speed increases, the slope of the line on this graph increases, which indicates acceleration.
Option A would imply deceleration since the speed decreases as time goes on. Option B is not a characteristic of speed-versus-time graph but of a distance-versus-time graph, and if the distance decreases with time, it would indicate moving backwards. Option D, where the line does not change as time increases, would indicate a constant speed, not acceleration.
Graphical analysis of motion is a powerful tool in physics, helping to visualize changes in velocity and acceleration. Acceleration can be identified on these graphs by looking at the slope or the 'rise over run', with a positive slope on a velocity versus time graph indicating a positive acceleration.