Roots of the Hawaiian Hotspot

Electromagnetic radiation behaves like both a wave and a particle. Help classes explore this concept through a lab investigation. Young scientists create optical interference patterns on a glass slide using a carbon layer. They analyze...

In this characteristics of waves activity, students answer 9 questions about the structure of waves, the types of waves and the components of waves. They describe the frequency of a wave and calculate the velocity and frequency of waves.

Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...

Is it possible to outrun a tsunami? After watching a presentation that explains how waves and tsunamis occur, class members investigate the speed of tsunamis triggered by an earthquake.

Pair physical science learners up, and have one describe a transverse wave while the other blindly attempts to draw it. Then reveal an actual diagram and explain the different parts of the wave: crest, trough, wavelength. Though most of...

Ride the learning wave in an episode of a comprehensive physics playlist. Youth learn about the existence of rogue ocean waves and their behaviors. The instructor discusses the chaotic effects of multiple wave collisions.

Quantum physics relies on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, yet many don't fully understand it. A brief video installment from a larger playlist explores the principle with a laser light and a slit for it to pass through. It describes...

Wave properties are fully explained in this easy to follow highly comprehensive video. Matt describes the differences and provides concrete examples of a pules, periodic wave, transverse wave, and longitudinal waves.

In the following video Paul Andersen explains how a sine or cosine wave can describe the position of the wave based on wavelength or wave period. A wave function can the position of a wave as a function or the amplitude and wavelength or...

Students compare and contrast electromagnetic and physical waves. In this wave lesson plan, students discover that all waves reflect, refract, and diffract energy. Students work in small groups to experiment with waves and evaluate the...