Randall D. Knight — Kinematics in One Dimension: Problem Problem_71

As an astronaut visiting Planet X, you’re assigned to measure the free-fall acceleration. Getting out your meter stick and stopwatch, you time the fall of a heavy ball from several heights. Your data are as follows: Height (m) Fall time (s) 0.0 0.00 1.0 0.54 2.0 0.72 3.0 0.91 4.0 1.01 5.0 1.17 Analyze these data to determine the free-fall acceleration on Planet X. Your analysis method should involve fitting a straight line to an appropriate graph, similar to the analysis in Example 2.14.