Physics: Properties of Matter

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.

Body Breakdowns
This interactive feature from the NOVA "Surviving Denali" Web site details the variety of ways the body can fail while climbing a high-altitude peak.

Buoyancy Brainteasers: Balloon-in-Car Puzzler
This interactive brainteaser from the NOVA Web site challenges you to explain the behavior of a helium-filled balloon in a moving car.

Buoyancy Brainteasers: Buoyancy Question
This interactive brainteaser from the NOVA Web site challenges you to figure out what causes an object to sink.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finding Cures Is Hard
This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explains the difficulty of curing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

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.

Franklin Chang-Díaz: Rocket Scientist
This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW profiles Franklin Chang-Díaz, a scientist who is working on plasma-powered rockets and was NASA's first Latin American astronaut.

Frozen Frogs
This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW shows how the common wood frog freezes solid every winter, an adaptation that allows the organism to survive the cold winter.

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.

Gravity and the Expanding Universe
This video segment, adapted from NOVA, traces the evolving history of theories about gravity and a force that may oppose it, along with our understanding of the impact of both of these forces on our expanding universe.

How Big Is the Universe?
In this media-rich essay from the NOVA Web site, astronomer Brent Tully of the University of Hawaiʻi walks you through the latest scientific theories about the size of the universe.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Smart Bridges
In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about engineering innovations that could help detect a bridge's structural weaknesses before they become dangerous.

Sources of Radiation
This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site explores sources of radiation, both harmful and beneficial, natural and manmade.

Steam Machine
Explore NOVA Online's interactive steam engine and discover how this machine can convert heat to mechanical energy.

String Theory: A Strange New World
This video segment from NOVA chronicles Einstein's quest to unify the forces of electromagnetism and gravity.

String Theory: A Theory of Everything Essay
In this essay from the NOVA Web site, string theorist Brian Greene introduces the basic ideas behind string theory and how it might help us better understand the universe.

String Theory: Gravity - The Odd Man Out
This video segment from NOVA describes the discovery in the 1930s of two forces in addition to electromagnetism: the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force.

String Theory: Strings to the Rescue
This video segment from NOVA discusses the challenge of unifying the force of gravity and the forces described by quantum mechanics into a single theory of unification.

The Structure of Metal
In this interactive activity from the NOVA Web site, animations explain different aspects of the properties of metal.

Tour the Electromagnetic Spectrum
Take NOVA's interactive tour of the electromagnetic spectrum and find out why your eyes are like antennae for a narrow band of electromagnetic radiation.

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.