+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Schrodinger's Cat: A Thought Experiment in Quantum Mechanics

For Students 9th - 10th
Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, posed this famous question: If you put a cat in a sealed box with a device that has a 50% chance of killing the cat in the next hour, what will be the state...
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Particles and Waves: The Central Mystery of Quantum Mechanics

For Students 9th - 10th
One of the most amazing facts in physics is that everything in the universe, from light to electrons to atoms, behaves like both a particle and a wave at the same time. But how did physicists arrive at this mind-boggling conclusion? Chad...
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Making Sense of a Visible Quantum Object

For Students 9th - 10th
Physicists are used to the idea that subatomic particles behave according to the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics, completely different to human-scale objects. In a breakthrough experiment, Aaron O'Connell has blurred that distinction...
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Einsteinium: Periodic Table of Videos

For Students 9th - 10th
The team at Periodicvideos has created a TED-Ed Lesson for every element of the periodic table. Hear about einsteinium from a chemist who looks like the famous physicist. [1:52]
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Sound the Universe Makes

For Students 9th - 10th
We think of space as a silent place. But physicist Janna Levin takes us on an accessible and mind-expanding soundwalk through the universe. [17:44]
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: Eyes on the Stars

For Students 9th - 10th
On January 28, 1986, NASA Challenger mission STS-51-L ended in tragedy when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after takeoff. On board was physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. But first, he was a...
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: How Do Hard Drives Work?

For Students 9th - 10th
The modern hard drive is an object that can likely hold more information than your local library. But how does it store so much information in such a small space? Kanawat Senanan details the generations of engineers, material scientists,...
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is a Vector?

For Students 9th - 10th
Physicists, air traffic controllers, and video game creators all have at least one thing in common: vectors. But what exactly are they, and why do they matter? David Huynh explains how vectors are a prime example of the elegance, beauty,...
+
Primary
PBS

Nova: The Elegant Universe: Viewpoints on String Theory: Sheldon Glashow

For Students 9th - 10th
Transcript of an interview with physicist Sheldon Glashow on his attitude toward string theory and its impact on the study of particle physics and cosmology.
+
Handout
PBS

Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Raymond Damadian

For Students 9th - 10th
An underdog physician showed chemists and physicists a new way to look inside the human body -- and diagnose illnesses.
+
Article
Other

Geiger Counter: Radiation Monitoring

For Students 9th - 10th
This article, by a engineer and physicist, features graphs made with a Geiger counter in order to measure the Radon levels in his house.
+
Handout
Soylent Communications

Notable Names Database: Ernest Lawrence

For Students 9th - 10th
This brief biography discusses the innovative work of physicist Ernest Lawrence, inventor of a magnetic resonance particle accelerator.
+
Website
Other

Particles, Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

For Students 9th - 10th
Quantum physics, despite its inherent weirdness, is thus far the best model physicists have for explaining the universe. This site gives a great overview of the principles of quantum mechanics and gives scenarios to help the reader...
+
Handout
Other

National Academy of Sciences: Biography of Rodney Cool [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Rodney Lee Cool spent much of life's work on hyperons. This is the classic biography of a real-life scientist, a particle physicist. It's touching and enlightening, complete and full of science and significance. Requires Adobe Reader. [PDF]
+
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: The Unexpected Math Behind Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

For Students 9th - 10th
Physicist Werner Heisenberg said, "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." As difficult as turbulence is to understand...
+
Handout
Florida State University

Florida State University: Magnet Lab: Magnetic Thin Films

For Students 9th - 10th
This gallery takes readers from the 1880s and the pioneering work of German physicist August Kundt, up to recent advances in technology, including interlayer exchange coupling (IEC) and giant magnetoresistance (GMR).
+
Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Foucault's Disk

For Students 9th - 10th
Leon Foucault, a French physicist much better known for his pendulum demonstrating the rotation of the Earth, also created in 1855 a device that illustrated how eddy currents work. (Java tutorial)
+
Unit Plan
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Audion

For Students 9th - 10th
In 1906, American physicist Lee De Forest invented the Audion (or triode), building on John Fleming's discovery of the diode just a few years before.
+
Article
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Low Temperature Physics

For Students 9th - 10th
Why do physicists want to study things at temperatures so cold atomic motion almost comes to a halt? And how do they create such frigid environments, anyway? Read on for the what, how and why of low temperature physics.
+
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Plante Battery 1859

For Students 9th - 10th
French physicist Gaston Plante invented the first rechargeable battery, leaving an enduring legacy in battery history. To see it, just pop the hood of your car.
+
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Oersted Satellite, 1999

For Students 9th - 10th
Named in honor of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark's first satellite has been observing and mapping the magnetic field of the Earth.
+
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Felix Bloch (1905 1983)

For Students 9th - 10th
Physicist Felix Bloch developed a non-destructive technique for precisely observing and measuring the magnetic properties of nuclear particles. He called his technique "nuclear induction," but nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) soon became...
+
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Paul Lauterbur

For Students 9th - 10th
Chemist Paul Lauterbur pioneered the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for medical imaging. He developed a technique, now known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in the early 1970s that involves the introduction of gradients in...
+
Handout
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Magnet Academy: Georg Ohm

For Students 9th - 10th
Georg Simon Ohm had humble roots and struggled financially throughout most of his life, but the German physicist is well known today for his formulation of a law, termed Ohm's law, describing the mathematical relationship between...