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...

In this activity students make a comparison of conventional and energy saving light bulbs and ask the questions: How can individuals contribute towards the needs of society? Why have traditional light bulbs been abolished by the EU? In Germany, as in many other European countries, conventional light bulbs are to be...

This STEM resource gives young learners the opportunity to explore how engineering and science work together in the healthcare service. Students are challenged to work collaboratively to develop their curiosity and creativity through a series of fun and engaging activities. 

From Teachers TV Lesson Planning Pack series, this video shows an example of how a lesson can introduce children to the idea of light travelling in a straight line. Rachel Dixon, a Year Six teacher at Ripple Primary School in Barking, presents her lesson on light. She aims to get her children to understand that...

This video provides an introduction to waves which looks at the differences between types of wave.  It would make a good revision video which discusses mechanical and electromagnetic waves with examples of each, with how particles and fields fit into the topic.  They presenter also demonstrates the difference...

This Mathematics Matters case study, from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, looks at how mathematical models try to understand the causes of rogue waves. These huge waves appear without warning, towering high over ships and oil rigs. Traditional mathematical models could not predict the occurrence...

From the Institute of Physics, this learning episode introduces the idea that vibrations can give rise to disturbances travelling outwards, i.e. to progressive waves. This illustrates some of the basic properties of waves. The activities include: • investigating transverse and longitudinal waves in a spring •...

This animation describes how gravitational waves were first detected, in 2015, at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), 100 years after Einstein predicted them.  Newton’s theory of gravity and Einstein’s theory of General Relativity are briefly described.  Taylor and Hulse showed indirect...

This video explains the difference between unpolarised light and plane polarised light in terms of using a slit to eliminate unwanted electric wave orientations. It is a continuation of Electromagnetic waves: why they are transverse....

Waves and Radiation is one of the publication themes of the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme.

The last one hundred years has seen an explosion in the use of electromagnetic radiation for communication. Using simple practical kits, Radiation and Communication looks at the properties of...

This Nuffield Advanced Physics Unit was about light as a wave motion. It represented the culmination of one line of thought in the course as a whole, for in it, earlier work on waves, on electric fields, and on magnetic fields came together in a (simplified) description...

Work done in this Nuffield 13 - 16 module followed from the B units called ‘Energy’ and ‘Seeing and light’. This D unit provided enough material for eight double periods during a Further Science course and built on the content of the S units for Single Science. The...

This video begins by asking the question, “why do we see rainbow colours on the surface of a DVD?”.

Light from a laser is shone through a diffraction grating to demonstrate a diffraction pattern.  The terms 0^th, 1^st and 2^nd order maxima are introduced and explained using the...

This video recaps on the idea that light sent along an optical fibre requires total internal reflection for it to progress along its length. It explains that information is sent as a series of on – off signals.  However, if light rays take different paths they can be modally dispersed, and this can degrade the...