Experiment with conductivity in metals, plastics and photoconductors. See why metals conduct and plastics don't, and why some materials conduct only when you shine a flashlight on them.
Experiment with conductivity in metals, plastics and photoconductors. See why metals conduct and plastics don't, and why some materials conduct only when you shine a flashlight on them.
This article from the free online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle provides appropriate science lessons for Grades K-5. The focus is on acquainting young learners with climate-change concepts that are not too complex for their grade level and will not frighten them. In each issue, the magazine develops articles around one of the seven essential principles of climate science. The author believes early lessons about water availability and extreme weather events will prepare students for complex climate concepts they will encounter in later grades.
Students can se;lect to learn about conservation of momentum by using either the PhET Collisions Lab or The Physics Classroom Exploding Carts simulations. Students are also introduced t o spreadsheet formulas and graphs using Google Sheets.
In this activity, learners make their own heat waves in an aquarium. Warmer water rising through cooler water creates turbulence effects that bend light, allowing you to project swirling shadows onto a screen. Use this demonstration to show convection currents in water as well as light refraction in a simple, visually appealing way.
In this Cyberchase video segment, Matt uses subtraction to help Digit figure out how much time he has left in a cooking contest with Hacker.
In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two solar cookers are tested against a control to see which can cook a "s'more" faster.
The phenomenon is thermal expansion of copper. This demonstration allows an observer to see the effect of heating (and cooling) a copper tube. When heated, the copper tube lengthens and thickens. When cooled, the tube shrinks. The lengthening of the rod rotates a toothpick with an attached flag to make the expansion visible and measurable.
This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.
Visualize the electrostatic force that two charges exert on each other. Observe how changing the sign and magnitude of the charges and the distance between them affects the electrostatic force.
This interactive activity from ChemThink takes a closer look at a covalent bond--how it is formed and how the sharing of two electrons can keep atoms together.
Students will explore Newton's laws of motion through a variety of activities, including an investigation that involves collisions.
Students will use Sphero 2.0 to impart a collision to study force, motion, and momentum in physical systems.
Students will engage with one another to design, create, and build a mini golf course hole using recycled materials. Once completed, the students will need to explain how their hole works using scientific terminolgy such as force and gravity. This hands-on, fun, creative activity will serve as an assessment tool on what students understand about the concept of force and gravity.
Explore current and past hurricanes using Google Earth.
In this interactive activity from the Building Big Web site, investigate dams in distress and decide if they should be repaired, removed, or left alone.
Science Phenomena: HS Physical Science - Waves and Information - Daniel Kish lost his eyes to cancer before he was 13 months old. He uses echolocation by listening to the reflection of sound waves to navigate in 3D space. He can even ride a bicycle. In addition to being an incredible story of perseverance this is a perfect phenomenon for a unit on waves. Sound waves are reflected, absorbed, and transmitted through objects in the environment and Daniel can sense the changes in energy of the returning waves.
Simulate the original experiment that proved that electrons can behave as waves. Watch electrons diffract off a crystal of atoms, interfering with themselves to create peaks and troughs of probability.
In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members use a hair dryer to balance a ball in a stream of air, seemingly defying gravity.
In this video segment, the ZOOM cast is challenged to keep a ping pong ball in a funnel while the funnel is held upside down, seemingly defying gravity.