Blog

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Use a virtual scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to observe electron behavior in an atomic-scale world. Walk through the principles of this technology step-by-step. First learn how the STM works. Then try it yourself! Use a virtual STM to manipulate individual atoms by scanning for, picking up, and moving electrons. Finally, explore the advantages and disadvantages […]

Continue reading

Semiconductors

Semiconductors are the materials that make modern electronics work. Learn about the basic properties of intrinsic and extrinsic–or doped–semiconductors with several visualizations. Turn a silicon crystal into an insulator or a conductor, create a depletion region between semiconductors, and explore probability waves of an electron in this interactive activity.

Continue reading

Sensor Explorations

Each page of this activity has a CODAP doc for recording data from sensors. This can be used for ad hoc experimentation or just messing around with sensors to learn how to use them.

Continue reading

Solubility

Investigate what makes something soluble by exploring the effects of intermolecular attractions and what properties are necessary in a solution to overcome them. Interactive models simulate the process of dissolution, allowing you to experiment with how external factors, such as heat, can affect a substance’s solubility.

Continue reading

Solving Systems of Equations

Two linear equations, with two variables, are presented and students use graphs to solve the system of equations. Students graph the lines and solve the problem using the graphs. This is the fifth of seven activities for teaching and learning linear equations in algebra: Ski Slope; y=mx+b; Points, Intercepts, and Slopes, Oh My!; Linear Equations […]

Continue reading

Spectroscopy

What happens when an excited atom emits a photon? What can we deduce about that atom based on the photons it can emit? A series of interactive models allows you to examine how the energy levels the electrons of an atom occupy affect the types of photons that can be emitted. Use a digital spectrometer […]

Continue reading

Spring and Mass Experiment (InquirySpace: 2)

Practice lab skills, automatic data collection and graphical analysis while exploring the fundamental properties of springs in the second activity in the InquirySpace sequence. How does mass affect the period of oscillation of a mass on a spring? Use a motion probe to capture the “bounce” of a range of masses suspended on a spring, […]

Continue reading

Making Heat

In this activity, you will monitor the temperature of reactions with different concentrations of reactants.

Continue reading