Physics: Chemistry

Resource	Grade Level	Media Type
Amazing Heart Facts This feature from the NOVA "Cut to the Heart" Web site highlights facts about the heart -- including its size and placement -- and will help you to understand the importance of this wondrous organ in our bodies.	6-8	HTML Document
Anatomy of a Firework There's more to a fireworks display than meets the eye. This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site looks at the technology behind each burst of light.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Are We Alone? This video segment adapted from NOVA features a variety of scientific perspectives on the age old question, "Are we alone in the universe?" Animations make vivid the improbability that we could intercept a radio wave signaling extra terrestrial intelligence.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Birth of a Supernova, Type Ia In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type Ia supernova — that is so bright that astronomers can measure the distance to the galaxy in which it resides, and even learn which elements make up the star.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Birth of a Supernova, Type II In this interactive activity from NOVA Online, learn about a type of exploding star — a Type II supernova — that is so large it has a mass 10 times greater than the mass of our Sun.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Body Needs This interactive feature from the NOVA "Dying to Be Thin" Web site describes the nutritional needs of the body and how to meet them.	3-8	Flash Interactive
Build a Steroid In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the molecular structure of steroids. See the intermediate molecules that are part of the pathway for synthesizing cortisone from diosgenin.	9-12	Flash Interactive
Cave Formation: Biogeochemical Cycles This video segment adapted from NOVA chronicles the discoveries that led to a radical new theory in which living organisms, not just geological processes, play an active role in cave formation.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Cave Formation: Kane Cave This video segment adapted from NOVA describes a simple experiment that confirmed the idea that microbes can accelerate the biogeochemical process of cave formation.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Caves: Extreme Conditions for Life This video segment adapted from NOVA raises the provocative idea that if life can exist in the most extreme environments on Earth — such as in dark, toxic caves — then perhaps living things can also survive in harsh environments on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Climate Change This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the difference between weather and climate and features groundbreaking analysis revealing that Earth's climate has changed much faster than previously believed.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Create a DNA Fingerprint Learn DNA profiling, the technique police use to catch the guilty and free the innocent. From NOVA: "The Killer's Trail" Web site.	6-12	Shockwave Interactive
The Dating Game: Radioactive Carbon In this media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site, learn about the atomic structure of radioactive carbon and how it can be used to determine the age of organic remains, such as bones and teeth.	6-12	Shockwave Document
Dating Lava Flows on Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaiʻi In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientists search for carbonized remains of plants preserved in lava flows to find out how long it has taken rain forests on Hawaiʻi to regenerate after a volcanic eruption.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Decomposers Without the work of decomposers, living organisms would eventually use up all the raw materials in the environment, and dead organisms and wastes would pile up. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers as the Earth's great recyclers.	K-5	QuickTime Video
Deep-Sea Vents and Life's Origins Deep-sea vents are home to life forms that do not rely on the Sun's energy. They depend instead on energy from volcanoes on the ocean floor. This video segment adapted from NOVA hypothesizes that life on Earth may have begun in this extreme environment.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Demolition Woman Find out how controlled explosions are used to demolish multi-story buildings in this interview from the NOVA Web site.	6-12	HTML Document
Discovering Air Our understanding about the air we breathe has changed dramatically through time. This illustrated timeline from the NOVA Web site tracks the changing thought on air and the creation of the Periodic Table of the Elements.	6-12	HTML Document
Duck Development This video segment from NOVA: "The Shape of Things" follows the growth of a duck embryo, from a single fertilized egg cell to a complex, hatching duckling.	6-8	QuickTime Video
Einstein: How Smart Was He? This essay from the NOVA Web site explores the impact Einstein made on physics and most everything we know about the cosmos.	6-12	HTML Document
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity What happens when you approach the speed of light? This video segment adapted from NOVA follows one of Albert Einstein's thought experiments and his quest to find the answer.	9-12	QuickTime Video
The Elements: Forged in Stars The story of how elements from lithium to uranium are created by stars is illustrated through animation and a hands-on periodic table in this video segment adapted from NOVA.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Embryo Takes Shape This video segment from NOVA: "Life's Greatest Miracle" explores the developmental process of an embryo beginning just two weeks after fertilization.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Energy Flow in the Coral Reef Ecosystem This video segment, adapted from NOVA, describes the energy flow in a coral reef, including its food web.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Explore a Stretch of Code Try your hand at reading a segment of genetic code in this interactive feature from the NOVA "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.	9-12	Shockwave Interactive
Fighting Back Help the immune system fight off an infection in this interactive feature from the NOVA: "Surviving AIDS" Web site.	6-8	Shockwave Interactive
Fireworks! Lifting Charge In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn how pyrotechnicians use common compounds to blast fireworks into the sky and give them shape.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Fireworks! Making Color What gives a fireworks display its brilliant blue, green, and red colors? Learn how pyrotechnicians give fireworks color in this video segment adapted from NOVA.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Forensic DNA Analysis This video segment from NOVA: "The Killer's Trail" investigates the potential for DNA evidence to solve murder cases, even those from the distant past.	9-12	QuickTime Video
From Seed to Flower Watching plants grow is like watching paint dry: It happens so slowly that the changes are imperceptible from one moment to the next -- and yet the end results are dramatic. This video segment shows just how amazing plant development can be by depicting various phases of the process using time-lapse photography. Footage from NOVA: "The Shape of Things."	K-5	QuickTime Video
Fuel Cells In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, hydrogen fuel cell cars promise pollution-free driving, but will we see them anytime soon?	6-12	QuickTime Video
Getting an Education This video segment, adapted from NOVA, chronicles the education of leading chemist Percy Julian. Although Julian began his elementary school years in the Deep South under Jim Crow laws, he became one of the few African Americans of his time to earn a Ph.D.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Global Warming: Carbon Dioxide and the Greenhouse Effect This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE demonstrates the physical property of carbon dioxide that causes the greenhouse effect.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story Examine these graphs from the NOVA/ FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic increases in the temperature of Earth's surface and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	6-12	HTML Document
Global Warming: Graphs Tell the Story Examine graphs from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site to see dramatic changes in the temperature of Earth's surface and in the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.	9-12	HTML Document
Global Warming: The Hydrogen Car Is the hydrogen car the answer to global warming? This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at the pros and cons of this developing technology.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Global Warming: The Physics of the Greenhouse Effect This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE examines the greenhouse effect, its role in keeping Earth habitable, and the industrial changes that have led to an increase in the planet's average temperature.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Grand Canyon: Ancient Mountains This video segment adapted from NOVA features the twisted and melted forms of the Grand Canyon's oldest rocks, the 1.7-billion-year-old Vishnu Schist.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Science Behind Appetite This video segment, adapted from NOVA, tells the story of a ballerina battling anorexia. It explains how serotonin regulates appetite, and presents some of the health risks that accompany the eating disorder.	5-12	QuickTime Video
HIV Immunity Although repeatedly exposed to HIV, Steve Crohn's blood cells were never infected. Dr. David Ho investigates in this video segment from NOVA: "Surviving AIDS."	9-12	QuickTime Video
A Hole in the Sky This video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA profiles two scientists who were surprised in 1984 to discover a hole in our atmosphere's ozone layer as big as the United States.	6-12	QuickTime Video
How Did Life Emerge Here? This video segment adapted from NOVA describes the emergence of life on the islands of Hawaiʻi from a barren volcanic platform under the ocean waves to the rich explosion of life that covers the many climate zones of the islands today.	3-12	QuickTime Video
How the Body Responds to Exercise In this video segment adapted from NOVA, follow novice runners as they train for a marathon, and discover how quickly the body responds to regular aerobic exercise.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Human Genome Project This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" looks at the meaning and significance of the effort to decode the human genome.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Illuminating Photosynthesis This interactive feature from the NOVA: "Methuselah Tree" Web site details the process of photosynthesis and its role in the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Ingredients for Life: Carbon This video segment adapted from NOVA illustrates why carbon is at the center of life on Earth. It also asks whether carbon-based life might exist on other planets.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Ingredients for Life: Water This video segment adapted from NOVA goes on a whimsical journey in search of life forms thriving in extreme conditions on Earth and in outer space. Animations show ice on Jupiter's moon, Europa, and signs that water once existed on Mars.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Island of Stability In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, follow scientists in their quest to understand how stable elements are made and how to create the elusive element 114.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Journey into DNA Travel deep into the human body to see exactly where your DNA resides. From the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Lava Sampling on Kilauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi In this video segment adapted from NOVA, scientist Mike Garcia draws lava samples at the foot of the active Kilauea volcano to see if it is related to its neighboring volcano, Mauna Loa.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Making Cortisone From Plants This video segment adapted from NOVA is a dramatized story of chemist Percy Julian’s work to synthesize cortisone. Find out how a biological process, not a chemical one, proved the key to producing cortisone in bulk.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Mirror Neurons This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNow, introduces the latest research on a system of neurons that plays a part in how people relate to each other.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Mount Pinatubo: Predicting a Volcanic Eruption This video segment adapted from NOVA relates the dramatic story of vulcanologists trying to predict the timing of the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Name That Shell The way a firework shell is designed and assembled determines the shape and color of a firework display. Choose a video clip and try to identify each firework variety in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.	6-12	HTML Interactive
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.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Nature's Pharmacy In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about chemicals in nature that are used in medicine.	3-12	Flash Interactive
Nature vs. Nurture Revisited Which dictates our existence -- our genetic makeup or the environment we grow up in? Kevin Davies offers an update on this long-standing debate, from the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.	9-12	HTML Document
Oil Spill: Exxon Valdez, 1989 This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the clean-up effort after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska. Also featured is a marsh where an oil spill occurred 20 years earlier; analysis suggests that environmental damage may last for decades.	6-12	QuickTime Video
On Fire Learn about the chemical reactions that take place when things burn in this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Organic Farming: Conserving Top Soil Against the backdrop of the devastating 1930's Dust Bowl, this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA profiles an organic farmer and the techniques he uses to conserve topsoil.	3-12	QuickTime Video
The Origin of the Elements This video segment adapted from NOVA explains the origin of the elements and how scientists use unique element profiles to identify supernova types.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Photosynthesis This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" looks at photosynthesis, the chemical process plants use to make their own food.	3-12	QuickTime Video
The Power of Touch This video segment explores the role of touch in the development of young animals, including humans. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Touch."	3-8	QuickTime Video
Pyrotechnically Speaking Meet chemistry professor Dr. John Conkling in this interview from the NOVA Web site and learn why fireworks are his passion.	6-12	HTML Document
Pyrotechnics: It's Elemental In this interactive periodic table from the NOVA Web site, find out the role of various elements in making fireworks.	6-12	HTML Interactive
Quarks: Inside the Atom This video segment adapted from NOVA shows how the particle accelerator helped physicists find parts of the atom even smaller than protons and neutrons.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Ringed-Carbon Compounds In this interactive activity adapted from NOVA, learn about alkaloids and steroids, both examples of compounds with carbon rings. Short videos with interviews, animations, and photographs are featured.	9-12	Flash Interactive
The Role of Genetics in Obesity In this video segment from NOVA scienceNOW, meet researchers who are studying obesity and trying to understand the role that hormones and genetics can play in regulating appetite.	6-12	QuickTime Video
The Sense of Taste This video segment explores the sense of taste in humans -- why we have it, and what happens when we lose it. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Taste."	3-8	QuickTime Video
Sequence for Yourself How do researchers read the tiny As, Gs, Ts, and Cs that comprise DNA? This step-by-step explanation shows you. From NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life."	9-12	Flash Interactive
Should We Grow GM Crops? Learn the pros and cons of genetically modified (GM) crops, and cast your vote on whether they should be grown. From the FRONTLINE/NOVA: "Harvest of Fear" Web site.	9-12	HTML Interactive
Snapshot of U.S. Energy Use This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at American energy consumption and the resulting production of greenhouse gases.	3-12	QuickTime Video
Solar Paint Your Roof In this video segment adapted from NOVA, see how nanotechnology might be used to create a new, cheaper way to produce solar electricity for the home.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Sources of Radiation This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site explores sources of radiation, both harmful and beneficial, natural and manmade.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Stellar Velocity: The Doppler Effect This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site illustrates the Doppler effect and shows how it applies to measuring the direction and speed of stellar objects.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Stories in the Ice Take a journey back through time, on the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, using ice cores to learn about Earth's climatic history, including evidence of global warming and nuclear activity.	6-12	HTML Document
The Structure of Metal In this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site, animations explain different aspects of the properties of metal.	6-12	Flash Interactive
Synthesizing an Alkaloid In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, learn how chemist Percy Julian revolutionized chemistry by synthesizing the alkaloid physostigmine from scratch—the first total synthesis of a chemical compound.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Synthesizing a Steroid This video segment, adapted from NOVA, tells the story of chemist Percy Julian's quest to make progesterone from a plant steroid, an important medical advancement of the 1940s.	9-12	QuickTime Video
Talking Bacteria In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, microbiologist Bonnie Bassler shares her discovery that bacteria coordinate group activity by communicating through chemical signals.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Trying to Breathe on Mount Everest In this video segment adapted from NOVA, climbers attempting to reach Mount Everest's summit must contend with the low levels of oxygen at high altitudes.	6-12	QuickTime Video
Your Carbon Diet Find out how much energy you use and some ways to conserve in this interactive activity from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site.	3-12	Shockwave Interactive
Your Carbon Diet In this interactive activity from the NOVA/FRONTLINE Web site, you can click on various items in a typical New England house to find out how much energy each uses and some ways to reduce energy consumption in your home.	6-12	Shockwave Interactive

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Physics: Chemistry