Follow along in this video segment from ZOOM as 13-year-old Nick explains how he came up with a design, tested materials, and constructed his own cardboard chair.
Visit with Andres during fiesta time at Paracho Michoacan, Mexico's "guitar town". As Andres shows in this video segment from ZOOM, guitar music goes beyond simple sound vibrations.
In this video from the Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations, observe how a laser beam is trapped in a water jet because the light reflects against the surface of the water.
Concepts underlying the first of the Essential Principles of the Climate Sciences are aligned with topics typically taught in the elementary grades. This article identifies lessons that will help elementary students develop an understanding of how Sun's light warms Earth and how variations in daylight hours are associated with seasonal change. This article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.
In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a team of archaeologists and engineers explores different uses of the lever by recreating the engineering feats of the ancient Easter Island peoples.
How can you lift a heavy metal table using air? In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members succeed in lifting a table using their own breath and a few plastic bags.
This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science describes how astronomical distances can be measured in units of light-years, and how the finite speed of light allows astronomers to study how the universe looked long ago.
This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science demonstrates the law of reflection by showing how light energy is reflected off both smooth and rough surfaces at predictable angles.
This video segment of Swift: Eyes through Time provides concrete examples to explain the concept that distance in space equals distance in time.
This video from KET traces the energy transformations that occur when coal is burned to produce electricity. Some of the mechanical processes are also described.
In this activity the temperature of a reaction is monitored for different concentrations of reactants.
Repeated motion is present everywhere in nature. Learn how to 'make waves' with your own movements using a motion detector to plot your position as a function of time, and try to duplicate wave patterns presented in the activity. Investigate the concept of distance versus time graphs and see how your own movement can be represented on a graph.
This video adapted from NASA explains how a magnetometer determines magnetic fields around planets.
Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) describe mass and weight and the differences between the two in this video from NASA’s Teaching From Space initiative.
This is an indoor lab that uses a boat simulation to demonstrate the concepts of mass, volume and density, and their relationship to displacement. It is a problem solving activity that encourages student creativity resulting in a variety of valid solutions.
This video segment adapted from Discovering Women profiles Fermilab physicist and Harvard professor Melissa Franklin.
Monitor the temperature of a melting ice cube and use temperature probes to electronically plot the data on graphs. Investigate what temperature the ice is as it melts in addition to monitoring the temperature of liquid the ice is submerged in.
Learn about an important physics experiment that uses an invention that manipulates light in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.
In this video from DragonflyTV, Tiana and Sammy measure, record, and analyze the results of a drop box test to find out how everyday items behave in microgravity.
Learn to identify different molecular shapes, to understand the interactions that create these shapes, and how to predict a molecule's shape given certain information about it. Explore these concepts using three-dimensional computer models and answer a series of questions to reinforce your understanding.