Graphical analysis is commonly used to determine unknown physical properties. For quantities that are linearly proportional to each other, physicists often use the slope of the best‑fit line to a scatter plot in order to determine the proportionality constant.
A common physics lab experiment involves hanging different masses ?? from a spring of unknown spring constant ?. The resulting spring stretches Δ?? are then plotted versus the weight ??? of each hanging mass, where ? is the gravitational acceleration.
What is the algebraic expression for the slope of the resulting best‑fit line? Assume that the positive ?-direction is downwards
slope:
Graphical analysis is commonly used to determine unknown physical properties. For quantities that are linearly proportional...