Find out about simple machines, calculate the mechanical advantage and efficiency of machines, differentiate potential and kinetic energy, and learn ways to use energy more efficiently.

This digital textbook covers core physical science concepts and includes interactive features, real world examples, and videos.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Definition of physical science and how we depend on physical science.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] A complete, web-based textbook covering a wide range of middle school concepts in Physical Science.

Take an interactive quiz over physical science careers. After completing the quiz, check your score, and then revisit any incorrect question for further review.

This hands-on science activity allows students to explore how materials absorb sunlight differently. Students will create model houses with different materials on the roof and see which material allows the most heat to be absorbed into...

You might think that plants and animals have little in common with batteries, springs, or slingshots, but they actually do have something in common. Both living and non-living things store and transfer energy from one form to another. In...

A cross curricular project where students conduct a moot court to explore the role government policy plays in protecting our health. The focus of the unit is how our power effects our environmental health. Students use their knowledge of...

With this learning module, students will understand the difference between heat and temperature, convert temperatures among different temperature scales, and calculate specific heat.

A complete learning module with interactive activities as well as informational text to help students distinguish the characteristics and components of radioactivity.

In this module, students investigate the properties and behavior of different types of waves.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Definition of kinetic energy and how to calculate it.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses ways in which energy can be transferred, what kinetic energy is and types of potential energy. Includes examples of energy conversions.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses different forms of energy and how energy changes form.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses nonrenewable and renewable energy resources. Outlines world energy use and ways to conserve energy.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Definition of potential energy, gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy and other forms of potential energy.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Describes the conduction of thermal energy, how convection transfers thermal energy, and provides an example of the radiation of thermal energy.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] What thermal energy is and how it relates to temperature and mass.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Explains how to describe matter in the solid state, about the properties of liquid matter and gases, and what the relationship between energy and states of matter is.

Yo-yo's are a fun toy and there is nothing simpler than a string wrapped between two connected disks. But there's a lot of physics that makes a yo-yo work. In this science fair project, learn more about how and why a yo-yo works. You...

Hold onto your hats. In this science fair project, you will make a device that sends a film canister across the room with a small chemical explosion. The energy for the explosion is derived from the combustion of ethanol. You will...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses wind energy and hydroelectric energy.

Students will investigate the properties of light waves. They will learn about the different types of electromagnetic waves and mechanical waves, and investigate the phenomena of reflection, refraction, interference, and diffraction.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Introduction to the seven different forms of energy.