This investigation uses a linear air track that is tilted to a slope to calculate the acceleration of an object due to gravity.  SUVAT can be used to calculate this value, and datalogging, especially using light gates can be used. Students can also use a protractor to measure angles which can be varied.

This...

From Nelson Thornes, this resource helps students studying physics at post-16, A2 level. They help students to learn how the mass of cosmological objects are measured. Examples include the Earth, the Sun and finally the super-massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Some of these measurements were made...

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this booklet shows how to use Kepler’s third law to calculate the mass of the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way. Included is an online video that discusses what is inside a black hole. Equations and physical terms are introduced and discussed. Students are tasked...

Chemists analyse the tiny traces of substances which form a fingerprint. This allows them to determine drug abuse and as well as the age, gender and diet of an individual.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 26, Issue 3.

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to encourage students to study fire in the context of safety at home, fire prevention and the role of the Fire Service.

Guidance for teachers and technicians...

This resource presents some real seismic data recorded before a volcanic eruption and allows students to locate some of the resulting earthquakes by use of graphs and maps.

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This resource uses the scenario of the ‘Safe at Home’ scientists are developing a new range of fire extinguishers to help families protect their homes from fire. They have heard carbon dioxide might be useful but would like you to help with their investigation.

In this activity children observe irreversible...

In this predict-observe-explain activity, students explore different ways of extinguishing a flame with some surprising results. The lesson is introduced with the video of engineer Yusuf Muhammad. Yusuf is developing a revolutionary new household fire-safety device, incorporating the techniques of professional...

This video demonstrates how compressing a gas increases its temperature. A small piece of cotton wool is placed into the bottom of a narrow plastic tube. When the air is rapidly compressed by a piston, the air temperature increases and the cotton ignites. The 'fire piston' can be used to illustrates the transfer of...

This video demonstrates how adiabatic compression of air can produce enough heat to ignite cotton wool.  The auto-ignition temperature of cotton wool is approximately 400⁰C.  The video could be used to explain the way diesel engines work.

These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop ideas relating to the distinction between combustion and decomposition in the...

These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop ideas relating to flames, from hydrogen to candle wax.

This Catalyst article looks at fireworks and their history, how they are made and set off, and what gives them their colours and effects. The basic chemistry used in fireworks is looked at and how they work once the fuse is ignited.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2002, Volume 13, Issue 2...

A Catalyst article about the Wright brothers who made the first powered flight. Unlike the try-it-and-see methods used in many of the previous attempts, the Wrights approached the problem of flight in a scientific way and beat the competition. This article looks at the Wright brothers' research and the wing shapes...