This issue of Catalyst contains the following articles:

Dust to dust?

...

This issue of Catalyst contains the following articles:

Could purple tomatoes help us be healthier?

This Catalyst article looks at the Rosetta mission: to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko where it will study the nucleus of the comet and its environment for nearly two years, and land a probe on its surface. The article also describes how gravity assists, also known as slingshot manoeuvres, are used...

Working in a school without a physics specialist, Catherine contacted STEMNET for help with meeting the specifications of a new curriculum. As a result, the school gained help from a STEM Ambassador who not only explained particle physics in an accessible way but also showed how exciting careers in physics could be...

This very short video demonstrates the experiment that led Thomson to conclude that all atoms contain electrons and helped him to create his ‘plum pudding’ model of the atom.

This collection of resources was devised and published by Association for Science Education (ASE) in the last decade of the twentieth century to celebrate the centenaries of a number of key discoveries in the history of science.

The titles

• Beyond the Visible - One Hundred Years...

Celestia is a spaceflight simulator that allows you to explore real astronomical data as you fly through space. The majority of content is related to our Solar System.

This resource, from the Royal Observatory Greenwich, acts as a basic guide and explores the potential of the program with a sample Key Stage...

This video introduces and explains the centre of mass, sometimes called the centre of gravity, and how to determine it for a 2D shape. 

This video demonstrates how two masses, one free-falling and the other falling but attached to a chain, accelerate at different rates. Students are asked to make a prediction.

Slow motion video shows that the mass attached to the chain accelerates faster than the free-falling mass.  This because as the chain...

These diagnostic questions and response activities (contained in the zip file) support students in being able to:

• Calculate the size and direction of the resultant force of two forces acting along the same straight line
• Describe how quickly the speed of an object can be changed if acted on by...

A pair of videos that investigates the Ohm’s law relationship. The first allows students to carry out an experiment on the IV characteristics of a wire (Ohm's law) from home. This is a required practical for students to understand and be able to carry out for GCSE Combined Science and Physics.  The second explains...

This resource from Science upd8 looks into examples of electronic equipment such as: mobiles, cameras and music players which all require their own chargers.

Instead of each device needing its own charger, we may soon be able to recharge them just by putting them on a plastic-coated pad the size of a mouse...

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the unit called ‘Atoms and Molecules’. This B unit provided enough material for six double periods in the third year of secondary school (year nine). The Teachers’ Guide included eight worksheets to supplement the...

This simulation allows students to arrange positive and negative charges in space and view the resulting electric field and electrostatic potential. They can plot equipotential lines, discover their relationship to the electric field and create models of dipoles, capacitors, and more!

Sample Learning...