Masses & Springs

This simulation provides a realistic virtual mass-and-spring laboratory. Users can explore spring motion by manipulating stiffness of the spring and mass of the hanging weight. Concepts of Hooke's Law and elastic potential energy are further clarified through charts showing kinetic, potential, and thermal energy for each spring. This item is part of a larger collection of simulations developed by the Physics Education Technology project (PhET). The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments in which students learn through exploration. All of the sims are freely available from the PhET website for incorporation into classes.

Material Type: Simulation

Generator

Generate electricity with a bar magnet! Discover the physics behind the phenomena by exploring magnets and how you can use them to make a bulb light.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Archie Paulson, Carl Wieman, Chris Malley, Danielle Harlow, Kathy Perkins, Michael Dubson

Resistance in a Wire

Learn about the physics of resistance in a wire. Change its resistivity, length, and area to see how they affect the wire's resistance. The sizes of the symbols in the equation change along with the diagram of a wire.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Michael Dubson, Mindy Gratny, Wendy Adams

Electric Field Hockey

Play hockey with electric charges. Place charges on the ice, then hit start to try to get the puck in the goal. View the electric field. Trace the puck's motion. Make the game harder by placing walls in front of the goal. This is a clone of the popular simulation of the same name marketed by Physics Academic Software and written by Prof. Ruth Chabay of the Dept of Physics at North Carolina State University.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Danielle Harlow, Michael Dubson, Sam Reid, Wendy Adams

Balloons and Static Electricity

Students explore static electricity by rubbing a simulated balloon on a sweater. As they view the charges in the sweater, balloon, and adjacent wall, they gain an understanding of charge transfer. This item is part of a larger collection of simulations developed by the Physics Education Technology project (PhET). The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Sam Reid, Wendy Adams

Energy Forms and Changes

Explore how heating and cooling iron, brick, water, and olive oil adds or removes energy. See how energy is transferred between objects. Build your own system, with energy sources, changers, and users. Track and visualize how energy flows and changes through your system.

Material Type: Interactive

Authors: Ariel Paul, Emily Moore, John Blanco, Kathy Perkins, Noah Podolefsky, Trish Loeblein

Friction

Move the Chemistry book and observe what happens. Best used as a demonstration and not a full lesson.

Material Type: Interactive

Authors: Carl Wieman, Danielle Harlow, Michael Dubson, Mindy Gratny, Wendy Adams

Forces and Motion: Basics

Explore the forces at work when pulling against a cart, and pushing a refrigerator, crate, or person. Create an applied force and see how it makes objects move. Change friction and see how it affects the motion of objects.

Material Type: Interactive

Authors: Ariel Paul, Kathy Perkins, Noah Podolefsky, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein

Torque

Investigate how torque causes an object to rotate. Discover the relationships between angular acceleration, moment of inertia, angular momentum and torque.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Kathy Perkins, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein, Wendy Adams

Ladybug Motion 2D

Learn about position, velocity and acceleration vectors. Move the ladybug by setting the position, velocity or acceleration, and see how the vectors change. Choose linear, circular or elliptical motion, and record and playback the motion to analyze the behavior.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Noah Podolefsky, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein, Wendy Adams

Photoelectric Effect

See how light knocks electrons off a metal target, and recreate the experiment that spawned the field of quantum mechanics.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Carl Wieman, Danielle Harlow, Kathy Perkins, Ron LeMaster, Sam McKagan

Neon Lights & Other Discharge Lamps

Produce light by bombarding atoms with electrons. See how the characteristic spectra of different elements are produced, and configure your own element's energy states to produce light of different colors.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Carl Wieman, Danielle Harlow, Kathy Perkins, Ron LeMaster, Sam McKagan

Battery Voltage

Look inside a battery to see how it works. Select the battery voltage and little stick figures move charges from one end of the battery to the other. A voltmeter tells you the resulting battery voltage.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Carl Wieman, Sam Reid

The Ramp

Explore forces, energy and work as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces acting on the file cabinet. Graphs show forces, energy and work.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Carl Wieman, Danielle Harlow, Kathy Perkins, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein, Wendy Adams

Gravity Force Lab

Visualize the gravitational force that two objects exert on each other. Adjust properties of the objects to see how changing the properties affects the gravitational attraction. (Phys 3.1, 3.3, 3.4)

Material Type: Interactive

Authors: Carl Wieman, Noah Podolefsky, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein

Capacitor Lab

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.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Chris Malley, Kathy Perkins, Mike Dubson, Noah Podolefsky

Normal Modes

Play with a 1D or 2D system of coupled mass-spring oscillators. Vary the number of masses, set the initial conditions, and watch the system evolve. See the spectrum of normal modes for arbitrary motion. See longitudinal or transverse modes in the 1D system.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Ariel Paul, Jon Olson, Michael Dubson, Trish Loeblein

Blackbody Spectrum

How does the blackbody spectrum of the sun compare to visible light? Learn about the blackbody spectrum of Sirius A, the sun, a light bulb, and the earth. Adjust the temperature to see the wavelength and intensity of the spectrum change. View the color of the peak of the spectral curve. (Phys 3.3)

Material Type: Interactive

Authors: Kathy Perkins, Michael Dubson, Wendy Adams

John Travoltage

Make sparks fly with John Travoltage. Wiggle Johnnie's foot and he picks up charges from the carpet. Bring his hand close to the door knob and get rid of the excess charge.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Carl Wieman, Sam Reid, Wendy Adams

Ramp: Forces and Motion

Explore forces and motion as you push household objects up and down a ramp. Lower and raise the ramp to see how the angle of inclination affects the parallel forces. Graphs show forces, energy and work.

Material Type: Simulation

Authors: Kathy Perkins, Noah Podolefsky, Sam Reid, Trish Loeblein