Interactive Practicals

Measure a wire's diameter, investigate resistance against length and determine its resistivity.

Measure an aluminium block with a ruler, find a stone's volume by displacement and weigh a liquid in a measuring cylinder, then calculate each density and compare the block with the data-book value.

Put a resistor, a filament lamp and a diode in turn into a circuit with a reversing switch, read the ammeter and voltmeter in both directions, and compare the three I–V graphs.

Hang 100 g masses on a spring one at a time, read the pointer against a metre rule as it settles, then plot force against extension to find the spring constant and the limit of proportionality.

Freeze ripple-tank waves and measure ten wavelengths against a rule, then tune a vibration generator to find stationary waves on a string, and work out both wave speeds.

Turn a ray box to check the law of reflection, compare a mirror with white and black card, then measure refraction into a glass block and into water with a protractor.

Weigh aluminium and copper blocks, heat each one in insulation while reading a joulemeter and thermometer every two minutes, and find each specific heat capacity from a graph.

Compensate a track for friction, then time a trolley through two light gates while changing the pulling force and then its mass, and test F = ma.

Slide a crocodile clip along a resistance wire to find how resistance depends on length, then compare identical resistors in series and in parallel.

Measure the infrared emitted by each face of a hot Leslie cube with a detector, then time pins dropping from matt black and shiny silver plates beside a heater.

Balance a metre rule on a pivot, slide masses until it is level, compare clockwise and anticlockwise moments, and find an unknown mass.

Wind a coil on a core and count the paperclips it picks up as you change the current, the number of turns and the core material.

Wrap a beaker of hot water in different materials and different thicknesses of newspaper, and compare the temperature drop over ten minutes.

Heat a weighed amount of water with an immersion heater and joulemeter to find its specific heat capacity, then plot a temperature–time graph for melting ice.

Move an ammeter and a voltmeter around circuits with two lamps in series and in parallel, compare the brightness, and test the rules for current and potential difference.

Raise a runway with blocks, time a trolley over 1 m with a stopwatch three times at each height, and see how its average speed depends on the slope.

Weigh a climber, measure the height of a flight of stairs, time walking and running up it by hand, and calculate the work done and the power.

Time pins dropping from copper, aluminium, brass and steel rods in hot water to compare conduction, then watch a convection current carry dye around a heated beaker.

Wind different numbers of turns on the secondary of an iron-cored transformer, measure the output with an a.c. voltmeter, and compare the voltage ratio with the turns ratio.

Drop stacks of paper cake cases from 2 m, time the falls by hand three times each, and see how the terminal speed depends on the mass.

Throw 120 dice fifteen times, removing the sixes as decays, then plot the number remaining against throw number and read two half-lives from the curve.

Move a lamp away from a small solar panel driving a fixed load, measure the p.d. and current in a darkened room, and see how quickly the power output falls with distance.

Focus a distant window for a quick estimate, then move a lens and screen along an optical bench to find sharp images of an illuminated object and work out the focal length from 1/f = 1/u + 1/v.

Plan a pendulum measurement of g, read the length and time twenty oscillations yourself, then combine percentage uncertainties and suggest a justified improvement.

Turn a question about specific heat capacity into a workable method: choose variables and apparatus, run a pilot method of mixtures trial, analyse a results table and evaluate the method.

Judge a set of sources about a medical tracer for reliability, rank them, compare conflicting values, use the best data in a calculation and write a correct reference.

Throw 120 dice fifteen times, remove the sixes as decays, and test the exponential model with a graph of ln N against throw number, comparing the decay constant with the probability of one in six.

Measure the background count, then count a protactinium generator with a GM tube in ten-second windows and find the half-life from a graph of ln(corrected count rate) against time.

Read a voltmeter and ammeter at six supply settings to find a resistance from V/I and a V–I graph, then switch off and compare with an ohmmeter reading corrected for its leads.

Move a voltmeter probe over conducting paper to locate equipotentials between two electrodes, map them, and compare the field strength near an electrode with the field in the middle.

Zero a Hall probe, measure the flux density at the centre of a solenoid for five currents and along its axis, then estimate μ₀ from the B–I gradient and compare the field at the end with the centre.

Hold tuning forks over a tube, raise and lower the water level to find the first two resonances, then determine the speed of sound and the end correction.

Slide a microphone between a loudspeaker and a reflecting board, find nodes on the oscilloscope at five frequencies and determine the speed of sound from a graph of wavelength against 1/f.

Fit a small or large card vane to a mass on a spring, film the oscillations and step through the video to read the decaying amplitude, then compare decay constants on graphs of ln A against time.

Measure background light, find the analyser's maximum, then read a light meter every 15° and test Malus' law with a graph of corrected intensity against cos²θ.

Rotate a ray box around a semicircular block, read refraction angles on the protractor, then find the refractive index from a graph of sin i against sin r and check it against the critical angle.

Weigh an aluminium block, heat it electrically for ten minutes while reading the thermometer and meters, then use a graph of energy supplied against temperature rise to find its specific heat capacity.

Charge an isolated capacitor, read a discharge logger and integrate resistor power over 24 seconds to investigate stored and transferred energy.

Measure a falling flag with a movable light gate, calculate energy changes and compare kinetic energy gained with gravitational potential energy lost.

Focus inverted images on an optical bench, read rulers and investigate focal length and magnification using two graphs.

Measure three isolated resistors and four combinations, then compare V–I gradients with series and parallel resistance predictions.

Read a thermometer and ohmmeter during heating and cooling, subtract lead resistance and determine the temperature coefficient at 20 °C.

Read signed voltage and current for a wire at constant temperature and a filament lamp, then compare their I–V characteristics.

Read two manual loading and unloading cycles, plot nonlinear force-extension curves and estimate hysteresis energy using trapezoids.

Transfer calibrated masses and measure finite-flag light-gate timings to investigate acceleration against hanging weight and inverse total moving mass.

Balance a uniform rule with calibrated masses, then use moment graphs to determine an unknown object mass and the rule mass.

Use Vernier callipers, a micrometer, a balance and displacement readings to measure solid densities and a liquid mass-volume gradient.

Tune a driven oscillator, calibrate inverse resonance frequency squared against known masses, then determine an unknown mass.

Measure lead sheets with Vernier callipers, collect repeated counts and determine attenuation and half-value thickness.

Weigh warm water and melting ice, measure their temperature change and determine the energy needed for fusion.

Measure heating and cooling curves, calibrate an NTC thermistor and set a potential-divider thermostat.

Calibrate a video scale, track sphere centres and investigate momentum and kinetic energy in two-dimensional collisions.

Measure trolley speeds and signed force–time traces, then compare impulse with change of momentum.

Measure LED current–voltage curves, estimate threshold voltages and use a voltage–frequency graph to estimate the Planck constant.

Move a microphone, read two oscilloscope traces and determine sound speed from measured wavelengths and periods.

Measure spheres with a micrometer, compare speeds over successive sections of a liquid column and determine viscosity using Stokes’ law.

Measure drop heights and repeated electronic fall times, then use a height–time squared graph to determine gravitational acceleration.

Measure double-slit fringes and matching diffraction orders, then determine and compare the wavelength of laser light using two methods.

Tune a vibration generator to resonance and investigate how stationary-wave frequency depends on string length, tension and mass per unit length.

Measure a wire with a micrometer, load and unload it, then determine Young modulus from a stress–strain graph.

Vary the external load, measure terminal potential difference and current, then determine emf and internal resistance from a straight-line graph.

Time repeated oscillations of a mass-spring system and a simple pendulum, then use T² graphs to determine the spring constant and gravitational field strength.

Investigate pressure-volume and temperature relationships for a fixed mass of gas, then estimate absolute zero from a pressure-temperature graph.

Record capacitor voltage during charge and discharge, linearise the discharge data and determine the RC time constant and capacitance.

Use a top-pan balance and Hall probe to test how magnetic force depends on current, conductor length and magnetic flux density.

Rotate a search coil through a controlled magnetic field, integrate the induced-emf pulse and test the cosine dependence of flux linkage.

Measure background and gamma counts at fixed source-detector distances, then test corrected count rate against inverse-square distance.