See the idea. Put it to the test.

Find a practical

1. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Beats from two tuning forks or two close tones

   Two waves of slightly different frequency drift in and out of step, so their sum swells and fades at the difference frequency.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

2. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Creating mechanical waves on a slinky: transverse, longitudinal and the role of the medium (syllabus practical)

   A mechanical wave transfers energy through a medium whose particles oscillate about fixed positions, either across or along the direction of travel.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

3. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Dispersion of white light with a prism, and Herschel's infrared thermometer (syllabus practical)

   The refractive index of glass depends on wavelength, so a prism deviates violet more than red and spreads white light into a spectrum.

   PracticalLow risk

4. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Image formation with converging lenses and curved mirrors on an optical bench (syllabus practical)

   Rays from each point of an object are redirected by a lens or mirror to meet at an image point whose position and size follow from the focal length.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

5. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Pitch and loudness against frequency and amplitude with a sound recorder (syllabus practical)

   Pitch is the ear's response to frequency and loudness to amplitude, and a recorded waveform makes both measurable.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

6. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Reflection and diffraction of sound: the echo method and hearing around a barrier

   Sound reflects from a large hard surface as a delayed copy of the original pulse, which times its own speed, and it spreads past edges and through openings by an amount set by the ratio of its wavelength to the size of the obstacle.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

7. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Reflection, refraction, diffraction and superposition in a ripple tank

   Water waves change direction at barriers and depth changes, spread through gaps and add where they overlap, and each behaviour follows from the wave's speed and wavelength.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

8. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Refraction and total internal reflection with a semicircular perspex prism and ray box (syllabus practical)

   Light bends at a boundary because its speed changes, and the ratio of the sines of the angles is the refractive index, which also sets the critical angle.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

9. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

   Resonance in a closed pipe: speed of sound with a tuning fork (syllabus practical)

   A column of air closed at one end resonates when its length is an odd number of quarter wavelengths, which fixes the speed of sound from a known frequency.

   Practical, model not builtLow risk

10. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

    Resonance in mechanical systems: driven pendulums and resonant rings (syllabus practical)

    A system driven near its natural frequency absorbs energy each cycle and builds a large amplitude, while driving well above or below that frequency produces little response.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

11. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

    Sound intensity against distance: the inverse square law with a phone sound meter

    Energy from a small source spreads over a sphere whose area grows with the square of the distance, so intensity falls as one over distance squared.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

12. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

    Standing waves on a string with a vibration generator (progressive against standing waves) (syllabus practical)

    A wave reflected from a fixed end superposes with the incoming wave to give a standing pattern whose allowed frequencies depend on length, tension and mass per unit length.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

13. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

    The Doppler effect with a swung buzzer and a phone frequency meter

    A source moving towards a listener crowds its wavefronts and raises the received frequency; moving away spreads them and lowers it.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

14. Physics 11–12 · Year 11

    The inverse square law for light with a phone light meter (syllabus practical)

    Light from a small source spreads over an expanding sphere, so illuminance on a surface falls with the square of the distance.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

15. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Black body radiation and Wien's law: a dimmed filament and the solar spectrum peak

    A hot body radiates a continuous spectrum whose peak wavelength shifts to shorter values as temperature rises, in inverse proportion to the temperature.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

16. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    De Broglie matter waves: electron diffraction rings and the wavelength of an accelerated electron

    Electrons passed through a crystal form diffraction rings whose size shrinks as the accelerating voltage rises, exactly as a wave of wavelength h over m v would.

    Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh risk

17. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Diffraction of laser light through slits, a thin wire and a grating (qualitative) (syllabus practical)

    Light passing an edge or a narrow opening spreads and forms a pattern of bright and dark bands, which only a wave model explains.

    Practical, model not builtMedium risk

18. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Malus's law with two polarising filters and a phone light meter (syllabus practical)

    Light is a transverse wave whose electric field can be filtered to one direction, and the transmitted intensity through a second filter falls with the square of the cosine of the angle between them.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

19. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Measuring a laser's wavelength with a double slit and a diffraction grating (quantitative) (syllabus practical)

    Bright fringes appear where the path difference from two sources is a whole number of wavelengths, so the fringe geometry gives the wavelength.

    Practical, model not builtMedium risk

20. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Spectra from discharge tubes, an incandescent filament and reflected sunlight with a hand spectroscope (syllabus practical)

    Hot dense sources give a continuous spectrum, low-pressure gases energised by an electric discharge give bright lines unique to each element, and the Sun shows dark absorption lines on a continuous background.

    Teacher-led practicalPracticalMedium risk

21. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    Speed of light from the standing waves in a microwave oven (syllabus practical)

    Microwaves are light of long wavelength; inside an oven they form standing waves whose hot spots sit half a wavelength apart, so the spacing and the oven's stated frequency give the speed of light.

    Practical, model not builtLow risk

22. Physics 11–12 · Year 12

    The photoelectric effect: stopping-voltage simulation and a bench estimate of Planck's constant from LEDs

    Light delivers energy in packets proportional to frequency, so electrons leave a metal only above a threshold frequency and their maximum energy grows with frequency, not intensity.

    Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtMedium risk