Resources by National Physical Laboratory (NPL)

Pollution monitor

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out at home or in school. Students make their own pollution monitors to investigate visual particle pollutants in their home or outdoor environment. The monitors consist of a 5 cm square piece of white card or plastic smeared...

Reaction time

The video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge for students that can be carried out either at home or in school. They use a ruler length drop to record the reaction time for different participants. The results are recorded on a downloadable sheet that allows conversion of drop distance to a reaction time...

Temperature bounce

This video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge that can be carried out at home or in school.  Students must drop different types of ball to see how high they bounce.  They need to repeat their readings and record an estimate of the spread of their results.  They must then repeat this measurement after...

This item is one of over 25,000 physical resources available from the Resources Collection. The Archive Collection covers over 50 years of curriculum development in the STEM subjects. The Contemporary Collection includes the latest publications from UK educational publishers.

Vitruvian people

This video and worksheet set out a measurement challenge that can be carried out at home or in school.  Students must measure both their height and the span of their arms, several times to investigate whether, as postulated by Vitruvious, this length is the same.  The...

Water rocket challenge

• This annual competition is run by the National Physical Laboratory and challenges students to launch a rocket powered by water or air pressure and see how long they can keep it in the air, whilst trying to earn additional bonus seconds by landing it in designated...

Where on Earth am I?

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 smartphone or tablet to calculate their locations using G.P.S. (Global Positioning System). They are encouraged to take multiple readings and submit them to the NPL website,...