Curated Video
Place Like Home: Inside a Probe
Learn how scientists overcame huge challenges to land a probe on Saturn's moon, and why Titan is of special interest to life on Earth. Physics - Universe - Learning Points. The Cassini-Huygens probe took seven years to travel over 1...
Curated Video
Coriolis Effect
What is the Coriolis effect? How is it produced and how does it affect our weather? Earth Science - Weather - Learning Points. The way wind blows determines thunderstorms to hurricanes. The Coriolis Effect is a deflection of moving mass...
Curated Video
Types of Weather: Rain
Rain is essential to our planet. Without it, all life on Earth would struggle to survive. How do rain clouds form and what determines whether it rains or not? Earth Science - Weather - Learning Points. Rainfall comes from the clouds...
Curated Video
How to Make Fake Snow
Snow forms in the atmosphere as a result of water molecules attaching themselves to nuclei bacteria. But scientists have found ways to manipulate the freezing process of water and the production of these nuclei to create snow...
Curated Video
How Did Saturn Get Its Rings?
Since Galileo first sighted Saturn, scientists have been baffled by its beautiful rings. What are they made of and where did they come from? Physics - Our Solar System - Learning Points. Saturn's rings were first discovered by Galileo in...
Curated Video
Earth's Twin
Billions of years ago, Earth collided with its twin planet Theia. The impact and resulting geophysical changes prepared Earth for complex life. Physics - Our Solar System - Learning Points. 4 billion years ago Earth had a twin called...
Curated Video
Speed of Sound
Sound waves move through different mediums at different speeds, but why is this? What factors affect the speed of sound? Physics - Waves - Learning Points. Speed of sound depends on many different factors. Temperature, elasticity and...
Curated Video
What is Sound?
Sounds can vary greatly: extremely quiet or deafeningly loud, high and shrill to low and booming. Why are they so different? Physics - Waves - Learning Points. Sound is a vibration passed to and fro along particles forming a wave. It can...
Curated Video
Making an Electromagnet
We create a simple electromagnet by coiling wire around a nail and passing current through it. The magnetic field around the electromagnet creates similar patterns in iron fillings to a permanent magnet. Physics - Electricity And...
Curated Video
Ferrofluids
We compare the properties of three iron mixtures: iron and water, iron and oil and a ferrofluid - a mixture of compounds containing iron and oil. First, we look at how iron filings behave when mixed with water and then oil. We then hold...
Curated Video
Cloud in a Bottle
We create a cloud in a bottle using warm water and smoke. Some warm water is placed in a plastic bottle and then some smoke is drawn in using a glowing splint. The bottle is sealed and then squeezed and released. The change in pressure...
Curated Video
Elephant's Toothpaste
We create a rapidly expanding column of foam by mixing chemicals. Hydrogen peroxide and detergent are added to potassium iodide and food colouring to set off a reaction that creates vibrant expanding foam. Chemistry - Reactions -...
Curated Video
Collision Theory
Discover that altering the number of successful collisions between particles is key to changing the rate of chemical reactions. How this can be manipulated? Chemistry - ReactionsLearning Points. New substances are made when particles...
Curated Video
Forces of Nature
Introducing the four main forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetic force, weak and strong nuclear forces. Learn why they are fundamental to life on Earth. Physics - Forces - Learning Points. There are four fundamental forces of nature....
Curated Video
Nanotechnology: Is It Safe?
Nanotechnology is already widely used, but some scientists are warning it could prove dangerous in future. Why? Chemistry - Atoms And Bonding - Learning Points. Nanomaterials take on very different properties to their larger particles....
Curated Video
Salt: Separating Mixtures
Salt is found in the oceans and Earth's surface. How do we collect this salt and separate it from the materials it is mixed with? Chemistry - Atoms And Bonding - Learning Points. Salt is found in oceans, lakes and underground rock beds....
Curated Video
Northern Lights
Discover how the chemical reactions which produce the extraordinary colours of the Northern Lights have their origins in outer space. Chemistry - Atoms And Bonding - Learning Points. Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, is a natural...
Curated Video
The Search for Dark Matter
Deep underground in a disused mine in Yorkshire, scientists are searching for particles that can't be seen and have never been detected, but might bind our Universe together. Physics - Universe - Learning Points. Dark matter is believed...
Curated Video
Non-Newtonian Liquids
Introducing the liquids whose behaviours seem to defy the accepted states of matter. What are they and why don't they behave as we predict? Chemistry - Atoms And Bonding - Learning Points. Newtonian liquids take the shape of their...
Curated Video
Rates of Reaction: Basics
Knowing the rate of a chemical reaction can be very important, particularly for industry. Discover which factors indicate the rate of a chemical reaction, and how you can change it. Chemistry - Reactions - Learning Points. Some reactions...
Curated Video
Diffraction
The bending or spreading of waves when they encounter an obstacle. A Twig Science Glossary Film. Key scientific terms defined in just 60 seconds using stunning images and concise textual definitions. Twig Science Glossary Films reinforce...
Curated Video
Solar wind
A stream of charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, emitted from the Sun's outer atmosphere at up to 900 kilometres per second. A Twig Science Glossary Film. Key scientific terms defined in just 60 seconds using stunning images...
Curated Video
How does sound travel?
Sounds travel in waves. The world around us - Light and sound - Sound Learning Points Sounds are made by tiny movements called vibrations. Sound energy travels in waves. These vibrations travel out from the sound source in all...
Curated Video
The Big Bang - Universe’s Beginning
What existed before the Universe began? Physical processes - The Earth and beyond - Beyond our solar system Learning Points The Universe is over 13.8 billion years old. The Big Bang Theory suggests that our Universe expanded out from one...