Explore the role of a molecule's mass with respect to its diffusion rate. Diffusion is the process of a substance spreading out from its origin. Molecules diffuse through random molecular motion. Diffusion is always happening, even when a system appears to have reached equilibrium, because molecules are always moving. Massive molecules have more kinetic energy than less massive molecules at the same temperature.

Explore the role of temperature in the rate of diffusion of a substance. Diffusion is the process of a substance spreading out from its origin. Molecules diffuse through random molecular motion. Diffusion is always happening, even when a system appears to have reached equilibrium, because molecules are always moving. When molecules are heated, they move faster.

Explore the role of temperature in the rate of diffusion of a substance. Diffusion is the process of a substance spreading out from its origin. Molecules diffuse through random molecular motion. Diffusion is always happening, even when a system appears to have reached equilibrium, because molecules are always moving. When molecules are heated, they move faster.

Explore the strength and direction of forces between two charged objects by observing the color and direction of the force pointers.

Observe the direction of forces between a negatively charged Van de Graaff generator and a positively charged object.

Drag around a stationary charged object and observe the force on the stationary object when it is positive and negative.

I find that when assigning lengthy readings for in-class discussion, it is extremely helpful to guide students' preparation with specific questions, and incorporate these in worksheets that explicitly call for students to write out their responses before entering the classroom. These worksheets can provide some added structure for whole-class discussion, or can provide a specific agenda for review of the readings in small groups. Because these readings are more than a few years old, I have also found it useful to assign small groups of students to give brief reports that expand on and update the issues raised in the readings.

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Explore how the polarity of molecules affects how they mix (or don’t) when combined.

An interactive applet and associated web page that demonstrate how to find the perpendicular distance between a point and a line using trigonometry, given the coordinates of the point and the slope/intercept of the line. The applet has a line with sliders that adjust its slope and intercept, and a draggable point. As the line is altered or the point dragged, the distance is recalculated. The grid and coordinates can be turned on and off. The distance calculation can be turned off to permit class exercises and then turned back on the verify the answers. The applet can be printed as it appears on the screen to make handouts. The web page has a full description of the concept of the concepts, a worked example and has links to other pages relating to coordinate geometry. Applet can be enlarged to full screen size for use with a classroom projector. This resource is a component of the Math Open Reference Interactive Geometry textbook project at http://www.mathopenref.com.

A collection of repeat photography of glaciers from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The photos are taken years apart at or near the same location, and at the same time of year. These images illustrate how dramatically glacier positions can change even over a relatively short period in geological time: 60 to 100 years. Background essay and discussion questions are included.

Explore tunneling splitting in double well potentials. This classic problem describes many physical systems, including covalent bonds, Josephson junctions, and two-state systems such as spin 1/2 particles and ammonia molecules.

This PBS Learning Media activity addresses drought basics, including its causes and impacts and ways to assess it, by using media from NOAA and NASA. It defines the types of drought, the impacts, monitoring, and responses to drought. Use this resource to stimulate thinking and questions on the complexity of drought and to identify some variables used in defining drought.

This series of visualizations is part of a rich multi-agency effort to showcase the usefulness of open data (i.e., data provided in a discoverable, sharable, and machine-readable format) by exploring the 16-year drought as of 2016 and its effects on the Colorado River Basin.

The Dynamic Integrated Climate Change (DICE) model assumes a single world producer must chose levels for three simultaneously determined variables: current consumption, investment, and greenhouse gases reduction. The model is freely available in both a GAMS and Excel version. DICE allows both science and economics instructors to integrate a sophisticated economic model of climate change into their courses. The simulation is for upper-division courses where students have some background in microeconomics. The principle developer is William Nordhaus at Yale University.

This web page features a collection of Easy Java Simulations developed by secondary teachers for use in introductory high school physics courses. Topics include astronomy, momentum and collision, projectile motion, Gauss's Law and electric field, special relativity, and more. Each simulation is accompanied by a standards-based lesson plan and printable student guides. Users may run the simulations as a Java applet or may directly download a jar file version. The materials in this collection were created with Easy Java Simulations (EJS), a modeling tool that allows users without formal programming experience to generate computer models and simulations. To modify or customize the model, See Related Materials for detailed instructions on installing and running the EJS Modeling and Authoring Tool. This resource is part of Project ITOP (Improving the Teaching of Physics), a graduate program offered at University of Massachusetts-Boston. The archived computer models are hosted and maintained as part of the BU Physics Simulation collection.

Using US Drought Monitor data and its classification system, this interactive tool tracks drought in the continental US by county, from 2000 to the present.

This animation depicts real-time wind speed and direction at selected heights above Earth's surface, ocean surface currents, and ocean surface temperatures and anomalies.

In this demonstration, evidence of the Earth's rotation is observed. A tripod, swiveling desk chair, fishing line and pendulum bob (e.g., fishing weight or plumb bob) are required for the demonstration. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications.

This is an indoor and outdoor activity where students understand the distance the earth is from the sun. The students understand that the earth rotates on it's axis once in a 24 hour period thus providing us with day and night.