A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) archives which considers fingerprinting and DNA profiling, the cornerstones of crime detection. Now new techniques, pioneered by EPSRC-supported researchers, are set to take these methods to a whole new level. The Light It Up project...

The Science Processes and Concepts Exploration (SPACE) project research report on Light was published in 1990 by Liverpool University Press. The SPACE research was conducted at two centres: at the University of Liverpool and King’s College, London, with Wynne Harlen and...

Produced by Solar Spark, this activity looks at the relationship between light and absorption in solar cells. Using a photovoltaic cell and different colour acetate sheets, it demonstrates the ability of solar cells to absorb at different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum and shows how the more it can...

Produced by the Institute of Physics, this topic explores the wave-particle nature of matter. As with quantum theory, this is a topic that students are likely to find completely new. They are unlikely to have already met the wave nature of particles or the wave nature of electrons bound within atoms.

The...

In this activity aimed at primary level, children investigate electrical circuits and consider how a safe and reliable circuit, that works, can be made. Using the context of Christmas Lights children use dice to select several components of electrical circuits from an ‘advent calendar’ showing 24 electrical symbols...

This learning episode from the Institute of Physics covers the constructive and destructive interference of waves.

Through discussion, student experiments and teacher demonstrations, students look at:
* simple interference of waves
* waves from two sound sources
* demonstration of Young's...

This video helps students to visualise the electric and magnetic field components of an electromagnetic wave.

The electric and magnetic oscillations (vibrations) are at 90⁰ to each other and also to the direction of energy propagation. 

This series of resources, produced by the Institute of Physics, develops the idea that there are several types of electromagnetic radiation, similar to light, all of which travel at the same speed in empty space. The topic is split into learning episodes which are self-contained activities that take one or two...

This learning episode, from the Institute of Physics, contains activities in which students look at reflection, refraction and Snell's law.

Through discussion, demonstration and practical experiments, students look at:
* reflection and refraction with a ripple tank
* the 'marching soldiers'...

This video explains how nodes and anti-nodes are formed in standing (stationary) waves.  It shows how the distance between two nodes = ^λ/₂.  A series of standing waves are drawn to show the fundamental wave and its harmonics.  The number of half wavelengths for the fundamental and second,...

From the Institute of Physics, these resources are split into topics and each topic is subdivided into a number of episodes. An episode represents a coherent section of teaching – perhaps one or two lessons. The topics covered are:

* Simple harmonic motion
* Progressive waves
* Electromagnetic...

This Nuffield Advanced Physics Unit offered an introduction to quantum theory presented in a single volume for teachers and students. The main work was theoretical. Many of the arguments were presented as a chain of questions.

This video begins by showing a demonstration of total internal reflection (TIR) through a semi-circular glass block.

It develops an understanding of TIR by showing that as the angle of incidence (θ_i) increases so too does the angle of refraction (θ_r).  Eventually, as  θ_i is...