Resources by National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

Break a flake

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out either at home or in school.  They must use a mass balance (weighing scale) to calculate the force needed to break different sized cereal flakes.  They are encouraged to take multiple readings and submit them to the NPL...

Candle power

The video and worksheet sets out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out either at home or school. They must use some scales to measure the starting mass of a tealight candle then burn it for two hours before measuring the final mass. They use a formula on the worksheet to calculate the...

Electromagnetic spectrum poster

This poster shows how the electromagnetic spectrum has been divided into seven ‘types’ according to use, with a look at how the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) uses it in high precision measurement.

Fact sheets (posters)

These fact sheets, from the National Physical Laboratory, are ideal posters for the classroom. They include illustrations and images to accompany the text. The following curriculum areas are covered: 

• Acoustics: sound, frequency and ultrasound
• Einstein: relativity, mass energy relation and...

Give me a second

This video and student worksheet set a challenge for students to make a pendulum that has a period of one second.  The video explains how the frequency of a pendulum will change with its length, and how gravitational potential energy is transferred to kinetic energy (and back again) through each pendulum swing. ...

Hot mug challenge

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out at home or in school. Students use four different drinks containers to measure the rate of cooling of hot water to investigate how the material and use of a lid affects the process. A stainless steel insulated cup with...

Four fascinating insights into the world of measurement, especially useful for investigative science at key stages 2 and 3.

• Measurement in action
• Collecting and recording evidence, data and information
• Presenting results to others
• Knot problems

How much is a teaspoon?

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out either at home or in school. They must use a measuring jug and teaspoon to calculate the number of spoons of water required to fill a volume of 200 ml. They are encouraged to take multiple readings and submit them to the...

Ice cube melt

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out at home or in school. Students use ice cubes (coloured with food dye to visualise the melting process easily) to represent ice masses found in the sea, freshwater lakes or on land (glaciers.) The ice cubes (of similar...

Invent a unit

This video and worksheet from the National Physical Laboratory, asks students to invent their own unit.  The video defines what units and prefixes are, and how they are defined, and invites students to invent their own units to submit via a link on the worksheet to the NPL website.  Some of the ideas already...