Accidental Discoveries

This segment from Swift: Eyes through Time traces the history military officers and engineers discovering a strange phenomenon in the sky that astronomers now know are gamma-ray bursts.

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Astronomical Images in Different Wavelengths

Visible light is just one portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that a telescope may detect. This collection of images produced for Teachers' Domain features radio wave, infrared, visible light, and X-ray images of distant stars and galaxies as well as images of the telescopes designed to detect the various wavelengths of radiation.

Astronomy Theories

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time deals with the advancement of science through changing existing ideas, refuting outdated theories, and incorporating new findings.

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Beyond Einstein

NASA scientists describe some of the ways current science is addressing several of Einstein's fundamental questions and theories in this video adapted from NASA.

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Blacker Than Black

In this video adapted from NASA, two members of a NASA research team working to produce carbon nanotubes share some background behind this new technology, show examples of how it will be useful, and explain the various tests being performed to ensure readiness for spaceflight.

Colliding Neutron Stars Create Black Hole and Gamma-ray Burst

This video from NASA describes the detailed computer modeling used to predict that colliding neutron stars can produce gamma-ray bursts similar to those associated with black holes.

Cooking Cookies with Solar Power

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two solar cookers are tested against a control to see which can cook a "s'more" faster.

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Cosmic Origin Spectrograph

This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.

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Cow's Eye Dissection

In this interactive activity adapted from the Exploratorium, watch videos of a cow eye dissection and see how an eye works.

De-Twinkling the Stars

Find out why stars twinkle and adjust a telescope to sharpen a star's image in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Detecting Life on Other Planets

In this video from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists detect potential signs of life on distant planets.

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Einstein's Thoughts on the Ether

Do light waves travel through the ether like waves on a lake travel through water? In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a young Albert Einstein grapples with this question while examining the speed of light.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum: FRONTLINE

This video segment adapted from FRONTLINE introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and explains how the various types of electromagnetic waves are distinguished by the amount of energy each wave carries.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum: NASA

From radio waves to gamma rays, this video segment from NASA introduces the seven categories of the electromagnetic spectrum and how each type of radiation is part of our everyday lives.

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Eve: Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment

In this NASA video, scientists describe how the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment will sample and track the Sun's ultraviolet irradiance, providing a detailed time sequence of extreme ultraviolet output -- data that can provide advance warning for potentially disruptive energy bursts.

Frequency

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab, investigate frequency in terms of trampoline jumps, pendulum swings, and electromagnetic waves.

Galileo's Telescope

The invention of the telescope helped change our understanding of the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's contribution to this technology.

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Gamma-ray Burst Theories

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time introduces and explains theories of the origin of gamma-ray bursts.

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Gamma Ray Telescope Senses High-Energy Radiation

This video from NASA describes the GLAST satellite, which is equipped with a gamma-ray telescope, and shares some background about the kinds of extreme universal phenomena indicated by the presence of gamma rays.

Geometric Optics

This interactive simulation adapted from the University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology project illustrates how lenses refract light to form images. Manipulate the object, screen, lens, and focal length and observe how the image adjusts.

Growing Plants in Space

Learn about the challenges and benefits of growing plants in space from plant biologist Dr. Ray Wheeler in this video from NASA.

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How Light Travels

In this video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science, observe demonstrations of the fundamental idea that light travels in straight lines.

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Hubble's Expanding Universe

This adapted video segment, using footage from NOVA and NASA, examines Edwin Hubble's work and how his findings laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory.

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The Index of Refraction and Snell’s Law

Learn about the index of refraction and Snell's law in this video from the ICT Center.

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Infrared Energy

Explore infrared energy and how NASA detects it to study our Earth's systems more completely in this video adapted from NASA.

Infrared Gallery

How would your world look if you saw heat instead of light? In this interactive resource produced for Teachers' Domain, see what familiar objects look like through an infrared camera and watch infrared videos of geysers, mudpots, and hot springs.

Inside a Solar Cell

This interactive activity adapted from NOVA Online features animations that illustrate the components of a typical photovoltaic cell and how it converts solar energy into electricity.

Interference and Diffraction

Learn about interference and diffraction in this video from the ICT Center.

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Inverse Square Law

This animation from KET's distance learning physics course demonstrates the mathematical formula for a scientific law as it applies to light.

James Webb vs Hubble

Compare two space telescopes—the Hubble Space Telescope and its planned successor, the James Webb Space Telescope —in this interactive activity from NASA.

LAMP: Peering into the Lunar Dark

In this video from NASA, learn more about the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP), an instrument on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to map and study the Moon.

Laser Tag

In this video adapted from QUEST, take a ride along with South San Francisco police officers and learn about the latest high-tech tools used in traffic law enforcement.

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Laser Waterfall

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.

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LED and Transmitter Characteristics

Learn about fiber optic transmitters in this video from the ICT Center.

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LIDAR 3D Mapping

See how researchers create 3-D maps of planets by using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) instruments in this video adapted from NASA.

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Light and Color

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates the dispersion of light through a prism and how raindrops refract sunlight to form rainbows.

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Light and the Law of Reflection

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.

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Light Particles Acting Like Waves: The Uncertainty Principle

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey uses a laser beam to demonstrate how light particles act like waves, illustrating Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

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Light Wave Behaviors

Discover the ways light interacts with objects in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Light Years

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.

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Looking Back in Time

This video segment of Swift: Eyes through Time provides concrete examples to explain the concept that distance in space equals distance in time.

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Meet Carrie Anderson: Taking on Titan

In this video from NASA, astronomer Carrie Anderson studies Saturn's moon, Titan, using data transmitted from the Cassini space probe.

The Michelson Interferometer

Learn about an important physics experiment that uses an invention that manipulates light in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

New Ways to Catch Rays

This interactive resource adapted from NOVA Online explores eight of the latest technological developments designed to harness the energy of the Sun.

Observing Refraction of Light

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates how light changes speed, and thus direction, in a process known as refraction.

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Photodetector and Receiver Characteristics

Learn about fiber optic receivers in this video from the ICT Center.

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Pixels and Pigments

This original animation from KET illustrates the mathematics of creating color in individual pixels in a television or computer screen. Adjusting the values of red, green, and blue forms different colors.

Primary Colors of Light and Pigments

In this interactive activity adapted from Shedding Light on Science, discover the difference between the primary colors of light and the primary colors of pigment—and the connection between the two.

Refraction of Light Demonstration

In this interactive activity featuring videos adapted from the Rutgers PAER Group, observe how light bends when it travels through a convex lens, a concave lens, and glass.

A Simple Fiber-Optic Communications System

Learn about rise-time analysis in fiber optic communications systems in this video from the ICT Center.

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