Through a series of four lessons, students are introduced to many factors that affect the power output of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Factors such as the angle of the sun, temperature of the panels, specific circuit characteristics,...

This module was written for a first year accelerated or AP physics class. It is intended to provide hands on activities to teach end of the year electricity and magnetism topics including the magnetic force, magnetic moments and torque,...

Students learn and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. They also learn about our nation's electric power grid and what it means for a residential home to be "off the grid."

Students learn how to find the maximum power point (MPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) panel in order to optimize its efficiency at creating solar power. They also learn about real-world applications and technologies that use this technique, as...

Students learn how the total solar irradiance hitting a photovoltaic (PV) panel can be increased through the use of a concentrating device, such as a reflector or lens. This is the final instructional activity in the Photovoltaic...

This lesson introduces students to the fundamental concepts of electricity. This is accomplished by addressing questions such as "How is electricity generated," and "How is it used in every-day life?" The lesson also includes...

Young scholars are given a history of electricity and its development into the modern age lifeline upon which we so depend. The methods of power generation are introduced, and further discussion of each technology's pros and cons follows.

Students are presented with a short instructional activity on the Coulter principle, an electronic method to detect microscopic particles and determine their concentration in fluid. Depending on the focus of study, students can...

Learners learn about electrical connections, how they work, and their pervasiveness in our world. Two specific skills explored are Morse code and the function of Bluetooth. Using bluetooth, they control LEGO robots remotely from Android...

This lesson introduces electricity, batteries and motors using a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot. The associated activity guides students to build a simple LEGO NXT set-up and see the practical implementation of the concepts discussed. Before...

Students are briefly introduced to Maxwell's equations and their significance to phenomena associated with electricity and magnetism. Basic concepts such as current, electricity and field lines are covered and reinforced. Through...

The grand challenge for this legacy cycle unit is for learners to design a way to help a recycler separate aluminum from steel scrap metal. In previous lessons, they have looked at how magnetism might be utilized. In this lesson,...

Here you can learn all about plasma. Explore what plasma is, its basic characteristics, and how plasma is created.

This Nobel E-Museum website commemorates the work of Philipp von Lenard and his Nobel prize achievement. This detailed resource includes a biography, Lenard's Nobel Lecture, and the "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1905 Presentation Speech."

The official Nobel biography of William Lawrence Bragg. the son of William Henry Bragg, who shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics with his father. This article focuses on Bragg's science activities, positions, and achievements and honors.

Use your knowledge of physics concepts like electricity, reflection, magnetism, etc. to complete interactive online puzzles.

What factors are important to consider in order to make informed energy decisions? In this interactive, you select one of three locations and the energy resources and then try to provide 100% of that community's electricity needs while...

For this fifth grade activity, students explore electric circuits by acting out different types, then construct circuits themselves.

Instructional module focusing on light and electromagnetism. Discussion includes historical discoveries that led to the understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum. Site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links relating to...

Students learn about electricity and air pollution while building devices to measure volatile organic compounds (VOC) by attaching VOC sensors to prototyping boards. In the second part of the activity, students evaluate the impact of...

This activity simulates the extraction of limited, nonrenewable resources from a "mine," so students can experience first-hand how resource extraction becomes more difficult over time. Students gather data and graph their results to...

College-level physics course highlighting electromagnetism. This course also includes a wide variety of other physics topics including lightning, electrocardiograms, metal detectors, and atom smashers, to name a few. Course includes a...

In this interactive learning module, students learn about the basic properties of magnetism. Practice problems are provided for ongoing assessment.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students will discover how an electrical potential is generated in an electrochemical cell, and then they will calculate the standard cell potentials from a table of...