Question

In the Newton's 2nd Law experiment, a cart and added mass was connected by a string to a hanging mass. When released it accelerated down a track. The hanging mass W 2 was increased by moving mass from the cart to the hanging mass. The accumulated data was then plotted as W 2 vs . acceleration. A best fit straight line was drawn to the data. What does the slope of this line represent?

Answer 1

The slope of the W₂ (hanging mass) vs. acceleration graph represents the ratio of force to mass.

The mass of the system (cart mass plus added mass) is represented by the slope of the W₂ (hanging mass) vs. acceleration graph in the Newton's second law experiment.

The mass (m) is the total of the added mass and the cart mass, and the force acting on it is the weight of the hanging mass (W₃). The slope provides a quantitative measure of the total mass of the system by indicating the proportionality between the hanging mass and acceleration.