Physics at home

Ideas for students learning Physics at home. Suitable for the 14-16 age range. Compiled by colleagues at the Institute of Physics.

For students working remotely because of school closures, or during school holidays. These ideas are divided by physics topic. We hope this saves time right now, along with the Physics project ideas for 11-14 links. The activities are not the standard school physics practicals (which would not be advised due to safety) and have all been safety-checked. BUT, it is still advised that you do your own risk assessment.

Forces

• Types – Marvin and Milo Loop the loop, Head hanger, Unbalanced balloons
• Gravity – Veritasium Misconceptions About Falling Objects
• Hooke’s law – PhET Hooke’s law; Masses and Springs: Basics – ‘Stretch’ tab
• PhET Under Pressure and/or use PhyPhox (free download) and the pressure sensor to show atmospheric pressure changing with height by lifting phone up and down.
• Moments PhET Balancing Act, Vectors IOP Quick Static crate

Forces & Motion

• Careers clips Forces and Motion in Games Programming
• Balanced forces – Does a Falling Slinky Defy Gravity? Marvin & Milo Slinky drop
• Graphs – PhET  Moving man  – Charts tab and PDF instructions; PASCO SPARKvue – uses phones as sensors
• Newton’s laws – 1^st Law PhET Forces and Motion: Basics, 2^nd Law (F = ma) – PhET Forces in 1 Dimension; 3^rd law – Veritasium Best Film on Newton’s Third Law. Ever
• Momentum – Marvin and Milo Bouncing balls, Hovercrafty; TAP Episode 222 Egg and sheet; PhET Collision Lab
• Circular motion – Circular Motion Demonstration with Sparkler

Waves in matter

• Careers clips Ultrasound in Physiotherapy and Ultrasound scans
• Free software https://www.zeitnitz.eu/scope_en computer sound card oscilloscope, compare with Quick Slink-o-Scope to explain why a transverse graph is drawn to show displacement for a longitudinal sound wave.
• Practical Physics Measuring the speed of sound using echoes
• Classroom Physics Sound pull-out
• Mechanical waves – IOP Physics A simple wave machine; PhET Wave on a String
• Speed of waves on water BBC Bitesize – required prac method 2 with baking trays/dishes

Light and EM Waves

• Visible spectrum – Marvin and Milo Garden Rainbow
• E-M waves – PhET Radio Waves & Electromagnetic Fields
• Black body radiation PhET Blackbody radiation
• Refraction – PhET Bending light; Marvin and Milo Pouring light, Lighting a home with water bottles
• Lenses – PhET Geometric optics (select principal rays)
• Colour addition – Marvin and Milo Deceptive CD

Electricity

• Current – Kung Fu circuit symbols; circuits PhET Circuit Construction Kit: DC
• The Sci-Tunes video ‘We Are Electrons’ is a useful summary of current electricity
• The Universe and More – Crack the circuit building circuits game
• Static –Dancing Oobleck streams with a static charge Marvin and Milo – Forceful Comb, Static Spinning Straw, repulsion with 2 straws

Magnetism and electromagnetism

• Fridge magnets and toys e.g Marvin and Milo Moody magnets
• Field due to current in a wire – Khan Academy Magnetic effect of an electric current;
• IOP Physics electric motor demonstration film; School Physics DC electric motor
• E-M induction – PhET Faraday’s law; animation AC generator; video Electromagnetic induction; Veritasium Levitating barbeque; Veritasium First Electric Generator
• Transformers – Demo How transformers work; interactive The transformer;

Energy

Best used after teacher-led introduction to the energy topic to avoid confusion.

• Shifting between stores – Exploratorium Coupled pendulums; Sixty symbols Coupled pendulums; PhET Energy Skate Park: Basics (uses bar charts for stores emptying and filling, useful model for students)
• Marvin and Milo Conduction Melting race and SHC Flame Balloons, asking student to explain the effects in terms of energy transfers at a particle level
• The SciTunes video ‘Energy!’ is a useful summary

Particles

• Density – Marvin and Milo Sinking sugar and Cartesian ketchup sachet diver
• Particle model – Exploratorium Gas model
• Anomalous behaviour of water – IOP Quick Ice-water-oil
• Evaporation – Marvin and Milo Drinks cooler
• Gas laws – PhET Gas Properties; Baby brains in a vacuum; The Naked Scientists Cool coin launcher

Atomic Structure

• Alpha scattering – PhET Rutherford Scattering
• Marie Curie short story & her story continued
• Videos of experiments IOP Spark Teaching radioactivity – select as needed
• xkcd Radiation dose infographic showing dose from ‘sleeping with someone’ up to ‘fatal dose’; video of the most radioactive places on Earth
• Background radiation – IOP worksheet  Measuring your annual dose
• Practical Radioactive Decay simulation – use coins, M&Ms or Lego bricks, plot a graph for the number decaying against ‘throw number’ (effectively time).

Space

• PhET My Solar System
• Free fall – Marvin and Milo Marvin and Milo Water fall
• Planet separation to scale – Toilet paper solar system (can use string if you are short!)
• IOP videos Models of the Solar System – Earth, Sun and Moon; The Life Cycle of Stars,  Life Cycle of a Star; Star formation;How Big is the Universe?; The Expanding Universe and the Big Bang
• Scale of the universe, Powers of ten videos; Interactive Solar system tour; Magnifying the universe simulation
• Doppler effect – NSO Redshift; Marvin and Milo Doppler spin
• NSO Expansion of the Universe – balloon model NSO Big Bang Demo, PDF instructions for washers/elastic expanding universe with data analysis

Collated by the IOP’s Professional Practice Group. See IOPSpark and TalkPhysics for more.