Just after World War II, nuclear scientists turned their attention from fission to fusion. This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE looks at the beginnings of thermonuclear power generation.

Learn how scientists regulate a nuclear reactor in this animation-enhanced essay from the FRONTLINE Web site.

Is the hydrogen car the answer to global warming? This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at the pros and cons of this developing technology.

This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE examines the greenhouse effect, its role in keeping Earth habitable, and the industrial changes that have led to an increase in the planet's average temperature.

What’s the “Matter” with Cells and Atoms? — investigates the difficulties students have with applying ideas about matter consistently and appropriately across the life and physical sciences, and with interpreting and relating different representations of microscopic structures. Explore the research: http://s.si.edu/1IwH5zS

Metals are grouped according to their characteristics. This video segment uses the periodic table for an in-depth discussion.

Students use gumdrops and toothpicks to make lithium atom models. Using these models, they investigate the makeup of atoms, including their relative size. Students are then asked to form molecules out of atoms, much in the same way they constructed atoms out of the particles that atoms are made of. Students also practice adding and subtracting electrons from an atom and determining the overall charges on atoms.

In this video adapted from the National Science Center, observe a demonstration to discover how helium gas is inert and hydrogen gas is reactive.

Engineers create and use new materials, as well as new combinations of existing materials to design innovative new products and technologies—all based upon the chemical and physical properties of given substances. In this activity, students act as materials engineers as they learn about and use chemical and physical properties including tessellated geometric designs and shape to build better smartphone cases. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, they analyze various materials and substances for their properties, design/test/improve a prototype model, and create a dot plot of their prototype testing results.

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey looks at the invention of nylon.

This activity is a classroom lab in which students investigate and observe three types of balloons to help identify the states of matter and their properties.

In this interactive activity from ChemThink, learn how ionic bonds are formed and how an ionic bond structure is represented by its formula.

This activity is a mini-lab where students determine a procedure they might use to prove that air is matter.

This lab helps students to understand the density is state dependent and can change based on the state of the element.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, follow scientists in their quest to understand how stable elements are made and how to create the elusive element 114.

A series of interactive applets use scientific models to teach some basic concepts of matter, including states of matter and physical and chemical changes.

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 from KET traces the energy transformations that occur when coal is burned to produce electricity. Some of the mechanical processes are also described.

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.

A visual representation of how the universe is not equal parts matter and antimatter