Collisions: rebound (v-t)

Collision: small mass into large mass

Collisions: equal mass straight (x-t)

Mathematics plays a vital part in space flight, it gives us a way both to predict what should happen in the future and also ways to measure what’s actually happening in the present, and adapt to it. In this resource we look at a few places where maths helps in space flight. The maths is made simple here (it’s far,...

Comets are considered to be time capsules containing information about the conditions of the early Solar System. In order to understand what comets are, where they come from, and their influence on the evolution of Earth, it is necessary to find out what material they contain. This teacher demonstration and student...

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which looks at the forensic evidence and intelligence that are left at crime scenes by footwear, gloves, tyres and fingers. New Latent Image Markup and Analysis (LIMA) software provides a fast, accurate way of transmitting and...

In this activity students investigate the mystery of a light beam which seems to bend.  Students can investigate:

• Qualitative behaviour of light  when the medium in which it propagates changes its refraction index. 
• Quantitative evaluation of the behaviour of light in refraction by means of...

This pack has all you need to facilitate a structured debate on the controversial topic of whether the town centre ought to be for self-driven cars only. The structure shows students how to build a discussion and back up their opinions with facts. The pack provides outline guidance for four imagined but...

The 2013 Institute of Physics Schools Lecture - Defying Gravity: Laura Thomas, an independent science communicator with a background in astrophysics, talks about the physics of space flight. She explains how studying physics and mathematics could...

Produced in 2015 and filmed at the ESERO-UK Secondary Conference, in 2014, this video shows teachers talking about the benefits of bringing in ideas from cutting edge research and technology into the classroom. They describe how information about current space research and missions can help their teaching. The...