Curated Video
The Race for Absolute Zero: Liquefying Gas
How a race between two scientists to liquefy gases led them near to absolute zero - the coldest temperature possible. Physics - Energy And Radioactivity - Learning Points. Absolute zero occurs at -273.15 degrees Celsius. Absolute zero is...
Curated Video
Curious Case of Phineas Gage
When Phineas Gage's brain was injured in a freak accident, his personality changed giving scientists a unique opportunity to study brain function. Biology - Being Human - Learning Points. Phineas Gage, a railway construction foreman...
Curated Video
Ripening Fruit
Unripe bananas travel from all around the world but always end up ripe and yellow on the supermarket shelves. This experiment shows us how. Chemistry - Chemical Industries - Learning Points. Millions of bananas are exported across the...
Curated Video
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider, the world's longest particle accelerator, is exciting scientists around the world who hope it can recreate the moments just after the Big Bang. Physics - Universe - Learning Points. The Large Hadron Collider is...
Curated Video
Smallpox: The First Vaccine
How the contagious and lethal smallpox virus was finally eradicated - 150 years after the first chance to prevent a global outbreak was missed. Biology - Cells And DNA - Learning Points. Smallpox is an acute, contagious disease - one of...
Curated Video
The Curse of Phlogiston
The 17th century German chemist Johann Becher proposed that an element, phlogiston, was released when substances burned. He was wrong, and his incorrect theory led many early chemists to misunderstand the significance of some of their...
Curated Video
The Race for Absolute Zero: Laser Cooling
Lasers are usually associated with heat. But scientists have instead used them to reach the coldest temperature ever recorded. Could they reach absolute zero? Physics - Energy And Radioactivity - Learning Points. Absolute zero is...
Curated Video
Coriolis Effect
What is the Coriolis effect? How is it produced and how does it affect our weather? Earth Science - Weather - Learning Points. The way wind blows determines thunderstorms to hurricanes. The Coriolis Effect is a deflection of moving mass...
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Mars: The Search for Water
We know that Mars once had a landscape with oceans and rivers, but what happened to it? Physics - Universe - Learning Points. Although Mars is a freezing dry world today, it is thought the planet was once like Earth. If liquid water once...
Curated Video
Carbon: Buckminsterfullerene
Discovered in 1985, Buckminsterfullerene has some fascinating characteristics. What is it and how is it shaping the future of chemistry? Chemistry - Atoms And Bonding - Learning Points. In the 1980s, a new carbon allotraope was found -...
Curated Video
Place Like Home: Life On a Moon
The discovery of Titan's atmosphere excited scientists, who believe it could hold the key to life on Earth. Physics - UniverseLearning Points. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System with a dense atmosphere. Titan's atmosphere is 98%...
Curated Video
Doppler Shift: Sound Discovery
How a unique but simple experiment in the 19th century gave a new insight into the behaviour of sound waves. Physics - Waves - Learning Points. The Doppler Effect is when the pitch of a sound seems to change as it moves past. The...
Curated Video
Reactivity Series: Comparing the Reactivity of Group 1 and Group 2 Metals
We compare the reactivity of Group 1 and Group 2 metals. We add sodium and then potassium to water. We observe the reactions. Next we add magnesium and then calcium to hydrochloric acid and observe the reactions. The results let us put...
Curated Video
Measuring Food Energy
We investigate the amount of energy stored in maize snacks and peanuts by burning them. The food is placed under an aluminium beaker of water before being set alight and the temperature change of the water is recorded. We can compare the...
Curated Video
Measuring Music
We use a sounding board called a sonometer to investigate how the pitch of sound changes when the length of wire being plucked changes. We change the position of a moveable bridge to change the length of the wire and discover that...
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Stimulating Daphnia
We examine the effects of different temperatures and chemicals on the heart rate of Daphnia. A microscope is used to let us see the Daphnia\u2019s heart and establish the heart rate under normal conditions. The heart...
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Ferrofluids
We compare the properties of three iron mixtures: iron and water, iron and oil and a ferrofluid - a mixture of compounds containing iron and oil. First, we look at how iron filings behave when mixed with water and then oil. We then hold...
Curated Video
Separating Notebooks
We interleave the pages of notebooks to see how hard it is to pull them apart. As the amount of interleaving increases, we see that the force required to separate them also increases. This is because the friction between the notebooks is...
Curated Video
Citrus Fruit Battery
We use lemons and strips of zinc and copper to make a battery. First, strips of copper and zinc are added to one lemon and they are connected across a voltmeter. This is repeated, this time with more lemons and metal plates, until a...
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Magnetic Strength
We use two magnets and a set of scales to examine magnetic field and strength. One magnet is attached to the scales and a second is lowered towards it. When opposite poles are facing each other, the weight on the scales decreases as the...
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Balloon and Treacle
We investigate the effect that unbalanced charge has on polar molecules. We rub a balloon against hair to build up a negative charge and then hold this near a stream of water and then a stream of treacle. They both bend towards the...
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Enzyme Action: Trypsin
We demonstrate denaturing by adding the enzyme trypsin to photographic film. Strips of photographic film are added to trypsin solution at different temperatures to determine the optimum conditions for the enzyme. In the right conditions...
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Cloud in a Bottle
We create a cloud in a bottle using warm water and smoke. Some warm water is placed in a plastic bottle and then some smoke is drawn in using a glowing splint. The bottle is sealed and then squeezed and released. The change in pressure...
Curated Video
Heat Loss
We compare two cans, one painted black and the other painted white, to see how quickly they lose heat. The containers are placed in front of a heat source and heated to the same temperature. The temperature in each container is recorded...