Watch beta decay occur for a collection of nuclei or for an individual nucleus.

In this activity, a spinning bicycle wheel resists efforts to tilt it and point the axle in a new direction. Learners use the bicycle wheel like a giant gyroscope to explore angular momentum and torque. Learners can participate in the assembly of the Bicycle Wheel Gyro or use a preassembled unit to explore these concepts and go for an unexpected spin!

This activity provides instructions for using a flashlight and aquarium (or other container of water) to explain why the sky is blue and sunsets are red. When the white light from the sun shines through the earth's atmosphere, it collides with gas molecules with the blue light scattering more than the other colors, leaving a dominant yellow-orange hue to the transmitted light. The scattered light makes the sky blue; the transmitted light makes the sunset reddish orange. The section entitled What's Going On? explains this phenomena.

Here’s a new “spin” on an old toy. In this modern adaptation of a classic toy—the spool racer—a plastic water bottle is propelled by energy stored in a wound-up rubber band.

This brief article describes the historical methods of marking and measuring time. Among the instruments and methods discussed are sundials, water clocks, celestial motions, and mechanical clocks. Included are descriptions of the sources of inaccuracies of these methods. Links to related resources and a separate page of pedagogical notes are provided.

This activity asks students to visualize and construct three-dimensional objects from the two-dimensional drawings. Students are shown four solids composed of cubes, and they must reproduce the objects with manipulatives or sketch them on isometric dot paper. Ideas for implementation, extension and support are included along with a printable sheet of dot paper.

This problem helps children begin to understand the various properties of common geometric solid shapes. It also promotes naming, discussion and experimentation concerning their features, and requires them to justify their ideas. It asks students to judge the stability of nine configurations made from six common solids. The Teachers' Notes page includes suggestions for implementation, discussion questions, ideas for extension and support, and printable sheets.

When will objects float and when will they sink? Learn how buoyancy works with blocks. Arrows show the applied forces, and you can modify the properties of the blocks and the fluid.

When will objects float and when will they sink? Learn how buoyancy works with blocks. Arrows show the applied forces, and you can modify the properties of the blocks and the fluid.

8th grade student will apply Newton’s Laws to design, test and evaluate materials to create the most protective helmet for an activity of their choice. Students will use force sensors and Vernier software to analyze the force reduction for their helmets. The culmination of this project is for students to write and present a sales pitch to promote their helmet to their peers at an annual "conference."

Table of Contents
1.0 About this book
2.0 Describing Motion (Standard I)
3.0 Force, Mass, and Acceleration (Standard II)
4.0 Gravitational and Electric Forces (Standard III)
5.0 Energy (Standard IV)
6.0 Waves (Standard V)
7.0 Physics Glossary

Calculus-Based Physics is an introductory physics textbook designed for use in the two-semester introductory physics course typically taken by science and engineering students.

Calculus-Based Physics is an introductory physics textbook designed for use in the two-semester introductory physics course typically taken by science and engineering students

Draw a graph of any function and see graphs of its derivative and integral. Don't forget to use the magnify/demagnify controls on the y-axis to adjust the scale.

Explore how a capacitor works! Change the size of the plates and add a dielectric to see how it affects capacitance. Change the voltage and see charges built up on the plates. Shows the electric field in the capacitor. Measure voltage and electric field.

This activity gives students a chance to relate some common three-dimensional solids to their polygonal faces. The object is to put solids in a sequence in which adjacent solids have a polygonal face in common. Ideas for implementation, extension, hints and support are included along with printable cards of the polyhedra.

This hands-on activity helps students develop spatial sense and scaling concepts. Students use interlocking cubes to build first a chair and then a table of appropriate size for the chair. The student goes on to build two other sets of chairs and tables to make three different sizes in all. The Teachers' Notes page includes suggestions for implementation, discussion questions, and ideas for extension.

In this activity about electricity, learners produce a spark that they can feel, see, and hear. Learners rub a Styrofoam plate with wool to give it an electric charge. Then, they use the charged Styrofoam to charge an aluminum pie pan. Essentially, learners build an electrophorus (Greek for "charge carrier"). This resource also contains instructions on how to build a large charge carrier called a "Leyden Jar" using a plastic film can.

Move point charges around on the playing field and then view the electric field, voltages, equipotential lines, and more. It's colorful, it's dynamic, it's free.

This new version of the CCK adds capacitors, inductors and AC voltage sources to your toolbox! Now you can graph the current and voltage as a function of time.