In this activity, students explore the basic living requirements of algae (phytoplankton)through hands-on experience and an interactive game. Students investigate what algal biofuels are, how they are made, where they can grow, and, most importantly, why this topic should be investigated. Algal biofuels are an emerging source of renewable energy.

Watch alpha particles escape from a polonium nucleus, causing radioactive alpha decay. See how random decay times relate to the half life.

This video from the U.S. National Academies summarizes the energy challenges the United States faces, including the technological challenges, and the need for changes in consumption and in energy policy.

This lengthy resource includes many activities from labs to design challenges that include:
roller coastersbumper carscarouselspendulum rides
There are many connections to science concepts and some to design and build challenges as well.

This lab activity has students rolling a marble down a ramp to study position, velocity, and acceleration. Based on a experiment performed by Galileo.

This map shows how much electrical power is produced from wind in each state from 1999 through 2010. The animation shows a general increase in the amount of wind power produced per state and the number of states producing it.

Antimatter, the charge reversed equivalent of matter, has captured the imaginations of science fiction fans for years as a perfectly efficient form of energy. While normal matter consists of atoms with negatively charged electrons orbiting positively charged nuclei, antimatter consists of positively charged positrons orbiting negatively charged anti-nuclei. When antimatter and matter meet, both substances are annihilated, creating massive amounts of energy. Instances in which antimatter is portrayed in science fiction stories (such as Star Trek) are examined, including their purposes (fuel source, weapons, alternate universes) and properties. Students compare and contrast matter and antimatter, learn how antimatter can be used as a form of energy, and consider potential engineering applications for antimatter.

Laszlo Tisza was Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT, where he began teaching in 1941. This online publication is a reproduction the original lecture notes for the course "Applied Geometric Algebra" taught by Professor Tisza in the Spring of 1976. Over the last 100 years, the mathematical tools employed by physicists have expanded considerably, from differential calculus, vector algebra and geometry, to advanced linear algebra, tensors, Hilbert space, spinors, Group theory and many others. These sophisticated tools provide powerful machinery for describing the physical world, however, their physical interpretation is often not intuitive. These course notes represent Prof. Tisza's attempt at bringing conceptual clarity and unity to the application and interpretation of these advanced mathematical tools. In particular, there is an emphasis on the unifying role that Group theory plays in classical, relativistic, and quantum physics. Prof. Tisza revisits many elementary problems with an advanced treatment in order to help develop the geometrical intuition for the algebraic machinery that may carry over to more advanced problems. The lecture notes came to MIT OpenCourseWare by way of Samuel Gasster, '77 (Course 18), who had taken the course and kept a copy of the lecture notes for his own reference. He dedicated dozens of hours of his own time to convert the typewritten notes into LaTeX files and then publication-ready PDFs. You can read about his motivation for wanting to see these notes published in his Preface below. Professor Tisza kindly gave his permission to make these notes available on MIT OpenCourseWare.

Fundamentals of nuclear physics for engineering students. Basic properties of the nucleus and nuclear radiations. Elementary quantum mechanical calculations of bound-state energies and barrier transmission probability. Binding energy and nuclear stability. Interactions of charged particles, neutrons, and gamma rays with matter. Radioactive decays. Energetics and general cross-section behavior in nuclear reactions.

Students are introduced to Pascal's law, Archimedes' principle and Bernoulli's principle. Fundamental definitions, equations, practice problems and engineering applications are supplied. A PowerPoint® presentation, practice problems and grading rubric are provided.

In this math activity, learners explore the history of the Stomachion (an ancient tangram-type puzzle), use the pieces to create other figures, learn about symmetry and transformations, and investigate the areas of the pieces. The Stomachion, believed to have been created by Archimedes, consists of 14 pieces cut from a square, which can be rearranged to form other interesting shapes.

Students explore the interface between architecture and engineering. In the associated hands-on activity, students act as both architects and engineers by designing and building a small parking garage.

This activity engages students in learning about ways to become energy efficient consumers. Students examine how different countries and regions around the world use energy over time, as reflected in night light levels. They then track their own energy use, identify ways to reduce their individual energy consumption, and explore how community choices impact the carbon footprint.

Students learn how forces are used in the creation of art. They come to understand that it is not just bridge and airplane designers who are concerned about how forces interact with objects, but artists as well. As "paper engineers," students create their own mobiles and pop-up books, and identify and use the forces (air currents, gravity, hand movement) acting upon them.

The purpose of this learning video is to show students how to think more freely about math and science problems. Sometimes getting an approximate answer in a much shorter period of time is well worth the time saved. This video explores techniques for making quick, back-of-the-envelope approximations that are not only surprisingly accurate, but are also illuminating for building intuition in understanding science. This video touches upon 10th-grade level Algebra I and first-year high school physics, but the concepts covered (velocity, distance, mass, etc) are basic enough that science-oriented younger students would understand. If desired, teachers may bring in pendula of various lengths, weights to hang, and a stopwatch to measure period. Examples of in- class exercises for between the video segments include: asking students to estimate 29 x 31 without a calculator or paper and pencil; and asking students how close they can get to a black hole without getting sucked in.

Galactic dynamics: potential theory, orbits, collisionless Boltzmann equation, etc. Galaxy interactions. Groups and clusters; dark matter. Intergalactic medium; x-ray clusters. Active galactic nuclei: unified models, black hole accretion, radio and optical jets, etc. Homogeneity and isotropy, redshift, galaxy distance ladder. Newtonian cosmology. Roberston-Walker models and cosmography. Early universe, primordial nucleosynthesis, recombination. Cosmic microwave background radiation. Large-scale structure, galaxy formation.

Explore the interactions between various combinations of two atoms. Turn on the force arrows to see either the total force acting on the atoms or the individual attractive and repulsive forces. Try the "Adjustable Attraction" atom to see how changing the parameters affects the interaction.

This is the second of a two-semester subject sequence beginning with Atomic and Optical Physics I (8.421) that provides the foundations for contemporary research in selected areas of atomic and optical physics. Topics covered include non-classical states of light–squeezed states; multi-photon processes, Raman scattering; coherence–level crossings, quantum beats, double resonance, superradiance; trapping and cooling-light forces, laser cooling, atom optics, spectroscopy of trapped atoms and ions; atomic interactions–classical collisions, quantum scattering theory, ultracold collisions; and experimental methods.