Acids and Bases: Testing Rocket Cars

In this ZOOM video segment, cast members make bottle rocket cars using lemon juice and baking soda, and experiment with different ways of launching the cars.

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Acids and Bases: Testing Rockets

What happens when you mix baking soda and lemon juice? Watch the ZOOM cast launch a rocket using kitchen chemistry.

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Air Is Matter

This collection of still images presents different ways to visualize air, from billowing sails to windblown hair to tornadoes.

Air Power: Experimenting with Balloons

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members experiment with the amount of air expelled first from a balloon, then through a straw attached to it, and see how both affect a balloon's behavior.

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Amplitude

This interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab shows how a pendulum's amplitude changes as you set it swinging from different distances from its axis, and how the amplitude of a sound wave changes as you adjust the volume.

Arch Bridge

This video segment adapted from Building Big illustrates the strength of the arch in bridge design and construction.

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Bandwidth and Data Conversion

This interactive activity adapted from the Wisconsin Online Resource Center describes the factors that affect the speed of data transfer in computer networking systems and some of the techniques used to increase the data capacity of these systems.

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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Booming Sands

This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, presents basic concepts of physics behind "booming" sand dunes. See how surface tension affects potential and kinetic energy and how it all works together to create sound.

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Building Curiosity: Rover Rocks Rocker-Bogie

NASA engineers test Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, and demonstrate its material properties, its handling and mobility, and its design features in this NASA video.

Building Simple Machines: A Glass of Milk, Please

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast shows how the 34 steps in their Rube Goldberg invention use everything from gravity to carbon dioxide gas in order to accomplish one simple task: pouring a glass of milk.

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Building Simple Machines: Plant Quencher

In this video segment from ZOOM, Jillian explains how her simple machine uses marbles, levers, flowing sand, and a spinning wheel to water a plant.

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Building the Channel Tunnel

How do you build a tunnel 32 miles long -- under water? This video segment adapted from Building Big, follows the construction of the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed "Chunnel"), the engineering wonder that connects England to France.

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Carbon-Fiber Car of the Future

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, find out how cars made of a material stronger than steel and half the weight can help combat climate change.

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Center of Gravity: Pencil Balance

Watch the ZOOM cast learn about center of gravity by trying to balance a pencil on their fingers and noses.

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Centripetal Force

In this animation a ball bounces off the sides of the circle, and the number of sides double, until the circle appears to exert force on a ball that is constant in size and always directed towards the center.

Circular Motion

In this interactive activity featuring videos adapted from the Rutgers PAER Group, observe examples of circular motion. Can you find a common reason why the objects and people presented move in a circle?

Collisions on an Air Track

In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Toronto, observe the effect of mass on momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions.

Columns: Experimenting with Paper Cups

In this video segment from ZOOM, the cast experiments to see if a bunch of paper cups covered by a piece of cardboard can support the weight of a cast member.

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Columns: Hillary's Neighborhood

In this video segment from ZOOM, Hillary, from Randolph, MA, takes us on a tour of the columns in her neighborhood.

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Conical Pendulum

A pendulum that swings in a horizontal circle and sweeps out the shape of a cone with its mass and string is known as a “conical pendulum.” In this animation we see the pendulum sweep from several angles with a superimposed equation toward the end.

Defy Gravity! Centripetal Force

How can you keep a ball from falling out of a jar if the jar is upside down? Watch the ZOOM cast use centripetal force to meet this challenge.

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Defy Gravity! Upside Down Ping Pong Ball

In this video segment, the ZOOM cast is challenged to keep a ping pong ball in a funnel while the funnel is held upside down, seemingly defying gravity.

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The Deployable Energy Absorber

Watch how engineers stage a crash to test a new helicopter safety design technology in this video from NASA.

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Design a Liquid Fuel Rocket Engine

Learn about rocket engines, and then design and launch a liquid fuel rocket in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Designing a Paper Bridge

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make a bridge from a single piece of paper. Will it be strong enough to hold a hundred pennies?

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Designing a Puff Mobile

The air you exhale can power a puff mobile. Watch as the ZOOM cast races their air-powered designs to see which design features are the most successful.

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Designing a Roller Coaster

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast is challenged to design and test a roller coaster with loops, hills, and U-turns.

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Designing Balloon Cars

Can the air in a balloon power a car? Watch students from Weston, Massachusetts, demonstrate their balloon car designs in this video adapted from ZOOM.

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Designing Electric Circuits: Steadiness Tester

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members discover that metal is a good conductor of electricity as they play the steadiness tester game.

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Designing Future Cities: Alternative Energy

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, visit a class as they design a city of the future that will use solar, wind, and water power to fuel its economy.

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Design Squad: Suspension Bridge

In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression to build a suspension bridge without the aid of power tools.

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Design Squad: Truss Bridge

In this video segment adapted from Design Squad—a PBS TV series featuring high school contestants tackling engineering challenges—students employ the concepts of tension and compression as they build a truss bridge without the aid of power tools.

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Down to the Core Challenge

In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build devices that can extract a core sample from a potato “asteroid.” They also learn how samples give NASA scientists insight into solar system objects.

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Dust-Proofing a Mars Rover

Enter the lab of NASA scientist Dr. Carlos Calle to see how systems are being developed to keep planetary rover solar panels dust-free, in this video from NASA EDGE.

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Electric Charges Interact

Experiment with electric charges to find out how they interact in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

Electric Girl

Anna loves electricity. Watch her construct a homemade flashlight and show off her new, electrifying hairdo in this video segment from ZOOM.

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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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Electrophoresis and Gel Analysis

In this animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc., see how molecules of DNA are separated using gel electrophoresis, and how this process enables scientists to compare the molecular variations of two or more DNA samples.

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Energy in a Roller Coaster Ride

See potential energy convert to kinetic energy in this interactive activity from WGBH that shows a roller coaster in action.

Energy Transfer in a Trebuchet

On NOVA, a team of carpenters, timber framers, engineers, and historians recreate a medieval throwing machine called a trebuchet. This adapted video segment explores how understanding energy transfer informs their design.

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Experimenting with a Lemon Battery

Can a fresh lemon power a digital clock? In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast shows you how this can be done and, in the process, discover how kids can be a part of an electric circuit.

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Experimenting with a Pendulum

In this video segment, members of the ZOOM cast experiment with a pendulum and discover what they need to do to make the pendulum complete one back-and-forth swing in five seconds.

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Exploring Conductivity: Kid Circuits

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members join hands and become electron conductors to complete an electric circuit.

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Exploring Windmill Design

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members are challenged to design a windmill that can be powered by a hair dryer.

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Firth of Forth Cantilever Bridge

This video segment from Building Big: "Bridges" demonstrates the basic design of a cantilever bridge by looking at Scotland's Firth of Forth Railway Bridge.

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Flight

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K takes you on a flight with a young student and a pilot as you learn about the 4 aerodynamic forces which are present when air is moving past an object such as an airplane.

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Fluid Dynamics

In this video from NASA Launchpad, learn about the techniques and facilities astronauts use to train for working in microgravity environments.

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Force and Motion

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K explains and gives examples of Sir Isaac Newton's 3 Laws of Motion using the rides at an amusement part.

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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 on the Moon

Watch Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform Galileo's falling objects experiment on the Moon in this video segment from NASA.

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Galileo's Big Mistake

Scientists don't always get it right. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's failed theory for the motion of the tides.

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Galileo's Thought Experiment

How can Earth move through space without our feeling its motion? This video segment adapted from NOVA answers this question by dramatizing one of Galileo's thought experiments.

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Generating Electrical Voltage

This interactive resource adapted from the Wisconsin Online Resource Center illustrates how electrical voltage is generated through a process called magnetic induction and describes some of the factors that affect the magnitude of the voltage produced.

Generation of Alternating Current

This interactive resource adapted from the Wisconsin Online Resource Center illustrates the parts of an electrical generator and shows how they function to produce alternating current.

Glider Boy

Meet 12-year-old Jesse, the designer of dozens of gliders, in this ZOOM video segment. Some of his gliders fit in your hand, while others can only be stored in the garage. Watch his gliders go and learn why they fly.

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Glory: The Rough Road to Space

This video adapted from NASA describes the various factors engineers must consider when designing a spacecraft that can withstand the extreme conditions in space.

Gravity

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K demonstrates how gravity, mass, matter, and weight are related and how astronauts can overcome earth's gravity to fly to space.

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Gravity at Earth's Center

In this video segment from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about the effects of gravity as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson falls through a virtual hole through Earth's center.

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Gravity on Earth and in Space

This collection of images compares the effects of gravity on Earth and in space.

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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Hoover Dam

This video segment from Building Big: "Dams," demonstrates the basic principals at work in the Hoover Dam, a concrete gravity dam that also makes use of the properties of the arch.

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How Do You Get to the Moon?

This video, adapted from NOVA, showcases the competing engineering plans designed for landing a person on the Moon for the first time.

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How Would You Turn a Bolt in Space?

In this fast-paced NASA Brain Bites™ video, an astronaut demonstrates the impact of microgravity on the use of tools in space.

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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.

Infrared: More Than Your Eyes Can See

In this video segment adapted from NASA, astronomer Michelle Thaller introduces the world of infrared light and demonstrates how infrared cameras allow us to see more than what the naked eye can perceive.

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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.

Inspector Detector Challenge

In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build magnetic-field detectors and use them to find hidden magnets. They also learn how NASA uses magnetometers to learn what is going on inside a planet or moon.

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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.

Investigating a Suspension Bridge

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast builds a suspension bridge from a couple of chairs, some cardboard, and rope.

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Invisible Force Challenge

In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build systems that use magnets to control the speed and direction of a rolling ball. They also learn how NASA uses gravity to direct a spacecraft.

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Kid Designer: A Comfortable Cardboard Chair

Follow along in this video segment from ZOOM as 13-year-old Nick explains how he came up with a design, tested materials, and constructed his own cardboard chair.

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Kid Inventor: The Couch Protector

Want to keep your dog off the couch? In this video segment from ZOOM, Jason demonstrates his invention that does just that: a couch protector.

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Kinematics

This overhead view of an animated car illustrates its velocity and acceleration as it starts up, moves in a straight line, and turns.

Let's Build Something

Children learn about the types of machines on a construction site and the different jobs they do to help us build in this original video from KET.

Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a team of archaeologists and engineers explores different uses of the lever by recreating the engineering feats of the ancient Easter Island peoples.

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Lift and Drag

In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the aerodynamic forces of lift and drag and how critical they are to the operation of all sorts of devices.

Lifting with Air

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.

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Lightning!

This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the mysterious force of lightning.

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Longitudinal Waves

In this silent animation a hand compresses a slinky to start a compression or longitudinal wave, a type of wave where the disturbance lines up with the direction the wave travels.

Making Big Waves

Certain sections of the Northern California coast are host to some of the largest, most spectacular ocean waves in the world. In this video segment from QUEST, learn about how these waves are able to get so large.

Mapping Magnetic Fields

This video adapted from NASA explains how a magnetometer determines magnetic fields around planets.

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Masses and Springs

In this interactive simulation adapted from the University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology project, hang various masses from different springs and see the kinetic, potential, and thermal energy of each spring system. You can even slow time or move your demonstration to another planet.

Mass vs. Weight: Accelerating Mass

Astronauts on the International Space Station demonstrate Newton’s Second Law of Motion in this video from NASA's Teaching From Space initiative.

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Mass vs. Weight: Air Powered Mass

In this video from NASA's Teaching From Space initiative, astronauts on board the International Space Station conduct an experiment using an air gun to exert a consistent force on two difference masses -- an empty water bag and a full water bag.

Mass vs. Weight: Introduction

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.

Mass vs. Weight: Stretching Mass

In this video from NASA's Teaching From Space series, an astronaut on board the International Space Station demonstrates weightlessness by comparing two water bags - one full and one empty - tethered to a line by stretchable bands.

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.

Momentum

In this interactive activity adapted from Wake Forest University, observe the effect of mass on velocity and momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions.

A Nanotube Space Elevator

In this video adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, find out about the discovery of a new building material, the carbon nanotube, whose physical properties could theoretically enable the creation of a 22,000-mile elevator to space.

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A New Theory of Lightning

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, follow scientists as they test a new theory suggesting that lightning here on Earth is triggered by cosmic rays from far-away dying stars.

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Newton's Third Law of Motion: Astronauts in Outer Space

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, NASA learns hard lessons from the first American attempt to do work while "walking" in space. The video also explores Newton's third law of motion.

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Next-Generation Space Suits

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, MIT engineer Dava Newman is working to replace today's bulky, inflated space suits with a radical, sleek design that may one day allow astronauts to walk easily on Mars.

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Ohm's Law

In this interactive simulation of Ohm’s law, adapted from the University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology project, adjust the voltage and resistance in a circuit, and observe how this affects the flow of current.

Pantheon Dome

This video segment adapted from Building Big: "Domes" illustrates how the design of the Pantheon Dome emerged out of another form, the arch.

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Physics of Arches

In this interactive activity from NOVA, try your hand at constructing a stone arch and learn about the physics that affect the arch.

The Physics of Baseball

In this video adapted from QUEST, discover that some of the rules of physics and baseball are one and the same.

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The Physics of Sailing

The act of sailing a sailboat may not be as clear-cut as you might think. In fact, sailing entails a very complex process. In this video from QUEST, find out what is behind the sail of a boat.

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