Lab
See the idea. Put it to the test.
956 practicals from Kindergarten to Year 12, in 9 subjects. A practical gives the idea, what you need, the steps, what you should see and a safety card. A teacher-led practical gives the idea and its hazards; its method is for tutors on the learning platform.
Review
Reviewed before publication (owner’s confirmation, 24 September 2026). That covers every practical here, and a practical’s page lists the sources its author read.
A safety card on every page
The risk, who supervises and the hazards. The 38 teacher-led practicals show their idea and hazards here; their materials, steps and sources, and any result, control or note that states a number or an amount, are for tutors and administrators on the learning platform.
School laboratory, not for home
207 practicals are medium or high risk. Each says so on its page: In a school laboratory, with a teacher supervising, under the school's risk assessment. Not for home.
Curriculum references
Each practical lists the NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes it supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.
Find a practical
16 practicals
Physics 11–12 · Physics · Electricity and magnetism
Charging by friction and induction: sticky tape, electroscope and the bending water stream (syllabus practical)
Rubbing transfers electrons between surfaces, like charges repel, unlike charges attract, and a charged object attracts a neutral one by polarising it.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtMedium riskCurrent-voltage characteristics of a resistor, a filament lamp and a diode
A metallic resistor at constant temperature obeys Ohm's law, while a heating filament and a diode do not, which shows the law's usefulness and its limits.
Practical, model not builtLow riskElectromagnet strength against current and turns: magnetising an iron core
A current in a coil aligns the domains of an iron core so the core becomes a magnet whose strength grows with current and turns until the domains are all aligned.
PracticalLow riskMagnetic field lines of bar magnets with iron filings, compasses and a phone magnetometer
A magnet's field can be mapped by the direction a compass points, and the field is strongest where the lines are closest, at the poles.
PracticalLow riskMagnetic field of a straight wire and a solenoid against current, measured with a phone magnetometer (syllabus practical)
A current produces a magnetic field whose strength grows in proportion to the current and, for a solenoid, to the turns per metre.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMapping electric fields and equipotentials on conductive paper
Field lines run from positive to negative electrodes, cross equipotential lines at right angles, and are closest where the potential changes fastest.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRate of energy conversion in a circuit: heating water with a resistance coil
Electrical power is the product of voltage and current, and in a resistor it appears as heat at the rate I squared R.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskSeries and parallel circuits: current and voltage rules from measurements
Charge is conserved at every junction and energy is conserved around every loop, which gives the current and voltage rules for series and parallel resistors.
Practical, model not builtLow riskArago's disc: a rotating magnetic field dragging an aluminium disc
A magnetic field moving relative to a solid conductor induces closed loops of current in it, and the force on those currents drags the conductor after the field without any contact, which is the principle of the induction motor and of the eddy-current brake.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskBuilding a simple DC motor and running it backwards as a generator
A current loop in a magnetic field feels a torque that turns it, and the same coil turned by hand produces an alternating emf that a commutator can rectify.
Practical, model not builtLow riskCharged particles in a uniform electric field: deflection tube and projectile comparison
A uniform electric field gives a charged particle a constant acceleration, so its path between plates is a parabola like a projectile's, and the work done is q V.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskCharged particles in a uniform magnetic field: circular paths in a fine-beam tube
A magnetic force acts at right angles to a charge's velocity, so it changes direction but not speed and bends the path into a circle of radius m v over q B.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskElectromagnetic induction: magnet and coil, and Lenz's law with a magnet falling through a copper tube
A changing magnetic flux through a coil induces an emf proportional to the rate of change, in a direction that opposes the change producing it.
Practical, model not builtLow riskForce between two parallel current-carrying wires
Each wire sits in the field of the other, so parallel currents attract and antiparallel currents repel with a force per length proportional to the product of the currents over the separation.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskThe motor effect measured on a digital balance: force on a current-carrying wire
A conductor carrying current across a magnetic field feels a force proportional to the current, the field and the length in the field, at right angles to both.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTransformer turns ratio and losses with a demountable transformer
An alternating current in one coil induces an emf in a second coil sharing the same core, in the ratio of their turns, while flux leakage and heating make a real transformer fall short of the ideal.
Practical, model not builtMedium risk
For tutors and administrators
The materials and steps of every teacher-led practical are on the learning platform, with the safety card first. Sign in with a tutor or administrator account to read them.