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
56 practicals
Physics · Waves, sound and light · page 2 of 2
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 riskSpeed 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 riskThe 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 riskDistance and exposure: the inverse square law measured with light
Intensity from a small source falls with the square of the distance, a law whose predictions a measurement can test, and the reason distance from a radiation source is a basic way to reduce exposure.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDiffraction as a measuring tool: a CD, a laser and an X-ray diffraction analogue
A regular pattern too fine to see spreads light into a predictable pattern, so measuring the pattern reveals the spacing; this is the principle that let X-ray diffraction reveal the helical structure of DNA.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskRefraction to telescope: building a two-lens telescope
The laws of refraction that shape a lens also fix a telescope’s design: two converging lenses separated by the sum of their focal lengths magnify by the ratio of those lengths.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskTesting a sunscreen claim: how much UV gets through a thin layer?
An SPF is measured at a set thickness of sunscreen; a thinner layer lets through far more UV, so testing the claim shows why the amount applied matters as much as the number on the tube.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTesting the Doppler prediction with a swinging buzzer and a phone
A source moving toward a listener is heard at a higher frequency and moving away at a lower one; a swinging buzzer and a spectrum app turn Doppler’s prediction into a measured test.
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.