physics resources

Get to grips with Newton's laws by navigating a rocket around obstacles in deep-space. After playing this game you'll have an intuitive grasp of how forces affect the motion of an object. You need to remember that things move a little differently out in deep space (there's no gravity and no friction to get in the way).

In this case study we analyse the forces acting on bodies moving with a constant velocity.

In this super game you must identify balanced and unbalanced forces and work out the resultant force. Examine the forces acting on your sheep in order to position a velcro wall. Get it right and your woolly beast is saved. Get it wrong and your hapless sheep will drift off into space!

In this game you must use your knowledge of moments to balance the seesaw and save the princess. What terrible fate will befall her if you fail?

View the details of a series of pulley systems providing different levels of mechanical advantage. A great resource for introducing pupils to the concepts of work and conservation of energy.

This large bank of resources was authored and developed by eChalk for the NGfL Cymru. It provides a gentle introduction to forces before moving on to balanced and unbalanced forces, types of forces, Newton's laws, free body diagrams, drag and air resistance, terminal velocity, pressure and moments.

Gravity explained through the medium of a cartoon animation.

If you want your pupils to develop an intuitive feel for gravity and orbiting bodies then try this fantastic game from MiniClips. This is one homework assignment they'll be happy to complete.

Believe it or not, we've managed to turn learning about displacement-time graphs into a game (and a great game it is too!). This software is also a great teaching aid when describing the relationship between real-world motion and its graphical representation.

A motion simulator that helps pupils understand the relationship between real-world motion and how it is represented using displacement-time, velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs.

There are four equations of motion that can be used to solve problems whenever an object moves in a straight line with a constant acceleration. This equation solver will show you how to use these equations by taking you through a simple five step process.

This suite was authored and developed by eChalk for the NGfL Cymru. Starting from very basic concepts it moves on to higher level concepts in a natural and gradual progression. The suite covers speed, vectors, velocity, acceleration, displacement-time and velocity-time graphs, equations of motion, free fall and projectiles.

A delightful animation depicting an example of a totally inelastic collision, a partially inelastic collision and a perfectly elastic collision.

Set up different driving conditions and see how your thinking and stopping distances are affected. You can select the weather and the condition of your car. You can even decide if you are sleepy or drunk!

Work out which factors affect thinking distance and stopping distance with this Venn diagram activity.

An addictive reaction test with loads of uses for practical work. This is a good one to use in conjunction with the stopping distances resource. I guarantee the kids will love it.

This gentle introduction to vectors helps your pupils understand what a vector is and how to represent them. The resource contains a set of tasks that can be undertaken at the interactive whiteboard.

A suite of resources that help pupils learn how to identify scalar and vector quantities. Pupils are given a physical quantity and its definition which they must categorise as a scalar or vector. This resource also contains a word-gap (or cloze) exercise.

This powerful application allows the teacher to illustrate vector addition in several ways. The addition can be graphically visualised using free vectors, a common origin configuration, the parallelogram construct or vector chains. The addition can also be analysed numerically by a consideration of the horizontal and vertical components.

This simple resource visually illustrates how the sum of several vectors can be found by arranging them as a chain.

A visual aid to help teachers introduce circular motion and explore how the centripetal force and acceleration depend on the mass, radius and angular velocity.

Explore the energy conversions that take place in different devices and calculate their efficiency.

This quiz tests knowledge about the different forms of energy and how they are converted from one form to another. (worksheet)

This simulation is useful for showing the mechanism of heat transfer and the relationship between temperature and the kinetic energy of the atoms. Draggable probes allow you to take the temperature at any point along the bar and the torch has several flame settings.

Not all materials conduct heat at the same rate. This simulation replicates the classic demonstration where pins are fixed to copper, aluminium and cast iron rods by blobs of wax: as the wax melts the pins fall. Note: this resource is no substitute for actually doing the experiment yourself in the lab!

Two lovely animations to show convection currents in a room and a refrigerator.

This animated power station illustrates how electricity is generated from nuclear energy and fossil fuels.

Learn how to interpret pie charts with this interactive resource.

Explore how energy is stored and transferred in a simple pendulum with this wonderful resource from PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder. Click here for a quick start video instructions.

Explore how energy is stored and transferred with this super simulation of a mass on a spring from PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder. Click here for a quick start video instructions.

Learn all about the electromagnetic spectrum with this detailed visual database. This resource allows you to explore each of the regions in isolation (radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma) or see how properties such as energy, wavelength and atmospheric absorption vary across the entire spectrum.

Use your knowledge of the electromagnetic spectrum and inter-planetary flight to land your spaceship on the moon pads in the correct order.

A high energy quiz that requires coordination as well as knowledge. Ideal for the interactive whiteboard. This resource also includes a printable worksheet and a separate activity to help the teacher with marking. (worksheet)

Learn to describe waves in terms of their amplitude, frequency and wavelength. This resource also allows you to explore the relationship between frequency and wavelength and how these are affected when the wave passes through different mediums and the wave speed changes.

See what transverse and longitudinal waves really are and discover how they displace the medium through which they are travelling. This interactive resource allows you to vary the amplitude, wavelength and frequency and explore the relationships between them.

This resource allows you to explore the interference patterns produced by two point sources.

This application allows you to explore how stationary waves can be produced as a result of the interference of a progressive wave with its own reflection. Simply the best way to show your pupils what transverse and longitudinal waves really are.

A Venn diagram activity to test your knowledge of the differences and similarities between light and sound waves.

Explore how the doppler effect changes the sound waves emitted by a red arrow jet plane. Fly the plane through the sound barrier and see the formation of the sonic cone.

Watch an ambulance drive past and hear the change in tone of the sirens, or see a jet plane scream past. Alternatively you can browse through our library of Doppler-shifted sounds (planes, trains and automobiles).

You have full control over the image ... colour it in and add or remove labels and arrows at the touch of a button. Simply click on individual labels and arrows to toggle them on or off (in this way the diagram can be simplified to suit any age group).

Mix coloured light or paint pigments with this simulation that allows you to explore the additive (RGB) or subtractive (CMY) colour models.

An interactive model that allows the teacher to demonstrate that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection (also contains some student notes).

Students use their knowledge of reflection to position a balloon so that a laser beam reflected off a mirror will destroy it.

A lovely, interactive model to show how a virtual image is created with a plane mirror.

Use this open-ended tool to explore what happens to a ray of light as it passes from one medium to another.

Explore beautiful 3D models of the planets and brush up on all the stats and facts with this stunning WebGL interactive resource.

This evocative video creates a sense of awe and wonder as it presents the relative sizes of known stars and planets in our universe. These stunning visuals were produced by Martin Sup. View in full screen for the best experience.

This lovely labelling exercise will make sure you know the names of all the planets in our solar system.

Use this labelling exercise to help ensure you know the order of the planets in our solar system.

What better way to learn the facts and figures surrounding the planets than with this digital version of a classic game?

This classic game will help you learn and remember the vital statistics of the planets.

Use your knowledge of the planets of the solar system to land your spaceship on the moon pads in the correct order.

This stunning resource uses WebGL technology to create an interactive 3D view of the Moon.

Get to grips with Newton's laws by navigating a rocket around obstacles in deep-space. After playing this game you'll have an intuitive grasp of how forces affect the motion of an object. You need to remember that things move a little differently out in deep space (there's no gravity and no friction to get in the way).

Fly a rocket at amazing speeds and see how light waves are doppler shifted. By observing the light waves emitted by a space ship students learn about red and blue shift.

Follow in the footsteps of scientists by observing the hydrogen spectra from distant galaxies. What can you deduce about the motion of the galaxies?

This application allows you to view the expansion of the universe and take measurements.

If you know the expansion rate of the universe, you can run things backwards to estimate the age of the universe. This application does just that!

This stunning resource uses WebGL technology to create 15 different visualisations of Earth. Geographic, demographic and economic views include tectonic boundaries, climate zones, average temperature and precipitation, political maps, GDP per capita, population density, energy consumption, GINI index, fertility rate and population growth.

Build, test and explore electric circuits. So intuitive it can be mastered by the youngest pupil. Powerful enough to challenge the most advanced students. Perfect for classroom teaching and setting problems.

In this activity you must use the fact that current is conserved in an electric circuit to determine the readings of all the ammeters.

Play this game to ensure you can remember the essential circuit symbols. New update: now contains an additional two player challenge!

Students sometimes struggle with the fact that when you add resistors in parallel the total resistance decreases. This suite of animations provides a useful analogy to help them see why this is the case.

A Residual Current Device (RCD, sometimes called a Residual Current Circuit Breaker - RCCB) is a component that breaks the circuit if the current on the live and neutral wires are not equal. This resource contains two great animations that demonstrate why a RCD is a real life-saver.

Stupid Steve is back! A fuse is an electrical component that breaks the circuit if the current exceeds a safe level. Watch this story of Stupid Steve to find out how a fuse protects you and your home.

Find out how much electrical energy is used by home appliances and find out how much they cost to run. (worksheet)

A labelling activity and a worksheet to help teach your pupils how to wire a three-pin plug. (worksheet)

This animated power station illustrates how electricity is generated from nuclear energy and fossil fuels.

Investigate how a transformer works with this interactive resource. (worksheet)

Logic gates and electronic components are covered in this revision activity (new update: now contains an additional two player challenge!).

An interactive resource in which you must use a plotting compass to discover and draw the magnetic field lines for different arrangements of bar magnets. Don't worry, if you want an easy life the computer will draw the field lines for you.

Illustrate the magnetic field surrounding a bar magnet with this interactive resource. Drag compasses around the screen to view the field direction at any point. You can decide whether to display iron filings or field lines or both. What more do you want?

A whole-class resource for teaching atomic structure and electron configuration. Pupils are presented with a mass number and atomic number and must then construct the atom. This resource is also ideal for exploring ions as well as ground states and excited states.

A sorting game in which different substances fall from the sky. Your job is to direct them into the correct buckets.

A visual database explaining the difference between elements, compounds and mixtures.

An outstanding resource. Explore what happens when atoms bond. The visual tool beautifully illustrates covalent and ionic bonding in a wide range of substances. (worksheet)

A feature-rich application to investigate the decay of short-lived radioactive materials and determine their half-lives. The simulation outputs tabular or graphical data in real-time that the pupils analyse to calculate the half-life. This resource includes complementary worksheets.

A clear animation and some slides describing the fission process.

Some simple slides to help you get the debate rolling.

A simple visual aid to show how far the different forms of radiation will travel through different materials.

Can't tell the difference between a Mega and a milli? Freak out at the sight of Giga, micro or nano? Fear not for this game is here to sort you out. Play it to learn the values and symbols for all the unit prefixes you're likely to encounter in school.

If you're playing a game or a quiz and you need to keep score for several teams then this is the tool for you. Choose between a number of themes: 'Alien abduction', 'In your face' and 'Snail race'.

The aim of the game is to guess the answer with as few clues as possible. The sooner you get the answer the more points you get. But don't answer too soon because if you get it wrong you'll lose points.

Make sure you're up to speed with the new hazard symbols with this visual database and memory game

Find out about the hazard symbols with this visual database (great for project work). This resource also contains a memory game to test how much the class knows about the hazard symbols.

A versatile resource that allows you to create your own pie chart in seconds. This powerful application has a host of features including a protractor and the ability to view your graph in 3D.

This powerful (yet simple to use) application allows you to create any 4 quadrant graph, grid or isometric paper. This may then be printed out for classwork or used as a background when using an interactive whiteboard. Brilliant.

A new improved timer that now includes a countdown timer as well as a standard timer. Some of the alarm sounds are not for those of sensitive disposition. The time is given in Hours, minutes, seconds and hundredths of a second. Handy for timed tests, exams and activities.

A digital assistant that keeps an eye on your class on those rare occasions when you have to pop out.