Physics 060
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Physics 060 Excel Graphing Lab
1) Open Excel by double clicking on the Excel Icon
2) Type your name in Cell A1. If it doesn’t fit put the curser on the line between column
A and B at the top until it turns into a black line with 2 arrows gong out either side,
click and hold and drag the line to the right until the column is wide enough to show
your whole name.
3) Type “Time (s)” in cell B2
4) Type “Distance (m)” in cell C2
5) Enter the following data in columns B and C below the headings.
Time(s)
Distance(m)
0
0
2
20
4
80
6
180
8
320
10
500
6) Highlight the numbers only by putting the cursor on cell B3 and holding down the left
mouse button and dragging over all the cells with numbers in them. They should be
highlighted in blue.
7) Click on the Chart Wizard that looks like a stack of boxes on the top toolbar.
8) The chart types are shown on the left hand column Choose XY (scatter)
9) Click next
10) Click next
11) In the Chart Wizard window,
a) Fill in the chart title as “Distance versus Time”
b) Value (X) axis is “Time (s)”
c) Value (Y) axis is “Distance (m)”
d) Click on the Gridlines Tab at the top of the window and put a check mark in the
Major Gridlines for the Value (X) axis box.
e) Click on the Legend tab at the top of the window and uncheck the Show legend
box.
f) Click next
g) In the Chart Location box choose As new sheet.
h) Click Finish
12) On your graph, edit the title. Click once to choose the title then click again to put the
cursor in the title box. Type “Distance vs. Time”.
13) Right click on one of the data points and choose Format Data Series.
a) The patterns tab should be selected. On the right hand side is Marker. Choose
Custom, In the style drop down menu choose a big square.
b) Click OK
14) On your graph put the cursor anywhere on the grey background and right click.
Choose Format Plot Area.
a) Under Area choose the white little box directly below the highlighted grey box.
b) Click OK
15) At the bottom left of the screen right click on the Chart 1 tab.
a) Highlight Rename
b) Type “D vs t”
16) Change the scaling on the x axis by double clicking on any number on the x axis.
a) In the format Axis window click on the Scale tab at the top
Physics 060
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b) Type 10 in the maximum box
c) Type 1 in the Major unit box
d) Click OK
17) Go back to your data sheet by clicking on the Sheet 1 tab at the bottom of the
screen.
18) You’ll now construct another graph that is Distance versus Time squared.
19) Click on the C column at the top of the sheet to highlight the whole column.
a) Click on Insert at the top of the screen
b) Select column and click (It is easier to do a graph when the x data is beside the y
data)
20) Type “T squared” in cell C2
21) To use a formula in Excel you always precede the equation with an equal sign.
a) Type “=B3^2” in cell C3 and hit enter
b) Click on cell C3 and move the cursor to the bottom right corner of the cell until
the cursor turns into a black cross.
c) Hold the left button down and pull the cursor down to cell C8. This will repeat the
formula for all the cells. Check that the numbers in column C are the square of
the numbers in column B.
22) Highlight cells C3 to D8.
23) Click on the Chart Wizard
a) Choose XY scatter, hit next
b) Hit next
c) Click on titles tab and use the title “Distance vs. Time squared”
d) X axis label is “T^2 (s^2)”, Y axis label is “D (m)”
e) Choose Gridlines tab and put in Major Gridlines on the x axis.
f) Hit next
g) Choose a new sheet for the graph
h) Hit finish
24) Format the plot area so it is white.
25) You forgot to get rid of the legend. On the menu at the top of the window Click on
Chart and choose Chart Options
a) Click on the Legend tab and unclick Show legend
26) Change the data points to large blue triangles.
27) Change the x axis scale to be 0 to 100 in increments of 10 (double click on any
number on the x axis and choose the scale tab)
28) Add a best fit line by right clicking on any data point and choosing add trendline
a) Choose the linear type
b) Click on the Options tab and click on the Display equation on chart box,
c) Hit OK
d) Find the equation on the graph place the cursor over the equation hold down the
left button and drag the equation to the top of the graph.
e) Click again on the equation and type “D=(5m/s)*t^2”
f) Click anywhere else to get out of the equation. Then double click on the equation
and choose the font tab and set it to 14.
29) Change the name of the chart to D vs t^2
30) Print your graphs to show me or call me to look at them.