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
189 practicals
Physics · page 2 of 4
Solar cell angle test: light energy into electrical energy
A solar cell transforms light energy into electrical energy, and the current it delivers depends on how directly the sunlight strikes it, which is why rooftop panels are tilted toward the Sun.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTwo globes, two ways: series and parallel circuits
In a series circuit the energy from the cells is shared along one path, so two globes glow dimly, while in a parallel circuit each globe has its own path to the cells and glows almost as brightly as one alone, drawing more current and emptying the cells faster.
Practical, model not builtLow riskAir resistance and terminal speed: dropping stacked paper cake cases
A falling object stops speeding up when air resistance grows to equal its weight, so a heavier stack of the same shape reaches a higher steady speed.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBalanced and unbalanced forces: two newton meters pulling a trolley
When two opposing pulls on an object are equal it stays at rest or keeps its motion, and when they differ the object accelerates in the direction of the larger pull.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBuilding an electromagnet: how turns of wire and current change its strength
An electric current in a coil produces a magnetic field, and the field grows with more turns of wire and with more current.
PracticalMedium riskFriction: force needed to slide a loaded wooden slider on different surfaces
The friction force between two surfaces depends on the materials and on how hard the surfaces press together, not on the area in contact.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHooke's law: extension of a steel spring against load
A spring stretches by an amount proportional to the force pulling it, until it is stretched past its elastic limit.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHow magnetic pull falls off with distance: paperclips through card spacers
A magnetic force acts without contact and weakens quickly as the gap between magnet and object grows.
PracticalLow riskKepler's third law from the planetary fact sheet
Orbital period and distance are locked together: the square of the period grows as the cube of the distance, so the outer planets crawl while Mercury races.
Calculation and dataLow riskLevers: balancing a metre rule to find the law of moments
A lever balances when force times distance on one side of the pivot equals force times distance on the other, so a small force far from the pivot can balance a large force close to it.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMapping the field around a bar magnet with iron filings and a plotting compass
A magnet exerts a non-contact force through the space around it, and the pattern of that field can be drawn as lines running from north pole to south pole that are closest where the field is strongest.
PracticalLow riskPulleys: measuring effort and rope distance for fixed and movable pulleys
A movable pulley halves the force needed to lift a load but doubles the length of rope pulled, so the work done stays the same.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRamps: force needed to pull a trolley up a slope at different angles
A ramp lets a smaller force move a load upward because only part of the load's weight acts along the slope, and the part grows as the slope steepens.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSimple pendulum: what changes the time for one swing
The period of a pendulum depends on its length and on gravity, not on the mass of the bob or the size of a small swing.
Practical, model not builtLow riskStatic electricity: charging balloons and rods by rubbing
Rubbing two insulating materials together transfers charge, and charged objects then exert non-contact forces of attraction or repulsion.
PracticalLow riskWeight and mass: hanging known masses from a newton meter
Weight is the gravitational force on a mass, so the newton-meter reading rises in direct proportion to the mass hung from it and the gradient is the gravitational field strength.
Practical, model not builtLow riskBouncing ball: how much energy survives each bounce
A dropped ball returns to a fixed fraction of its drop height on each bounce, and the missing fraction has been transformed into thermal energy and sound.
Practical, model not builtLow riskConduction: which metal carries heat fastest
Thermal energy passes along a solid from the hot end to the cold end at a rate that depends on the material, with copper conducting far faster than steel.
PracticalMedium riskConvection: watching a coloured current circulate in heated water
Heated liquid expands, becomes less dense and rises while cooler liquid sinks to replace it, setting up a circulating current that carries thermal energy through the fluid.
PracticalMedium riskDensity of granite, basalt and pumice by water displacement
Rocks of the same size differ in mass because their minerals and pore spaces differ, and the density difference between continental and oceanic rock is what lets one plate sink beneath another.
Practical, model not builtLow riskEnergy transfer in a pendulum: height at release against speed at the bottom
Gravitational potential energy stored by lifting the bob transforms into kinetic energy at the bottom of the swing and back again, so the bob returns to almost its release height.
Practical, model not builtLow riskInsulation: cooling curves for cups wrapped in different materials
Thermal energy escapes from a hot object faster when the temperature difference is larger, and an insulating layer slows the transfer so the cooling curve flattens.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskMarble on a ramp: release height, speed at the bottom and the distance a cup is pushed
The higher a ball starts on a ramp, the more gravitational potential energy it stores and the more kinetic energy it has at the bottom, which shows up as a faster ball and a further-pushed cup.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRadiation: matt black against shiny cans heating under a lamp and cooling in air
Dull dark surfaces absorb and emit radiated energy faster than shiny light ones, so a black can warms faster under a lamp and cools faster afterwards.
PracticalMedium riskRubber-band car: elastic potential energy transformed into motion
Energy stored in a stretched rubber band is transformed into kinetic energy of the car and then into thermal energy through friction, so more winding stores more energy and drives the car further.
PracticalLow riskBell in a vacuum jar: sound needs a medium (teacher demonstration)
A ringing bell becomes almost inaudible as the air is pumped out of the jar around it, because sound needs particles to pass the vibration along.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalHigh riskBeyond the visible: Herschel's infrared experiment and a remote seen on a phone camera
Sunlight carries energy in radiation beyond the red end of the visible spectrum, so a blackened thermometer just past the red edge still warms, and a phone camera shows the invisible infrared flash of a remote control.
Practical, model not builtLow riskConverging lens: forming a real image on a screen and finding the focal length
A converging lens brings light to a focus, and a more strongly curved lens focuses closer to the lens. An object beyond the focal point forms a real, inverted image on a screen, and as the object is brought closer to the focal point the image moves further from the lens and grows larger.
Practical, model not builtLow riskDoppler effect: a buzzer swung on a cord, recorded on a phone
A sound source moving toward a listener is heard at a higher frequency and one moving away at a lower frequency, because the waves are bunched up ahead of the source and stretched behind it.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskEfficiency of an electric motor lifting a load
Only part of the electrical energy supplied to a motor becomes gravitational potential energy of the load; the rest becomes thermal energy in the windings and bearings, and the ratio is the efficiency.
Practical, model not builtLow riskEnergy audit: power and energy use of household appliances on a plug-in meter
An appliance transforms electrical energy at a rate given by its power, so energy used equals power multiplied by time and can be measured, costed and compared with the rating label.
PracticalMedium riskGenerating electricity: a magnet moving through a coil and a hand-cranked generator
A generator produces electrical energy only while something keeps a magnet and a coil moving past each other, and the mechanical work done turning it is transformed into the electrical energy the circuit uses; power stations produce electricity the same way, with steam, wind or falling water doing the turning.
PracticalLow riskHeating water with an immersion heater: electrical energy in against thermal energy gained
The electrical energy supplied to a heater (V x I x t) sets the thermal energy the water can gain (m x c x change in T), and the shortfall measures energy transferred to the surroundings.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskLaw of reflection: ray box and plane mirror
Light reflects from a flat mirror so that the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence, both measured from the normal.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMeasuring the speed of sound: echoes from a wall and two phones with acoustic stopwatches
Sound travels at a finite, measurable speed in air, about a third of a kilometre each second, which can be found from the time a clap takes to cover a known distance.
Practical, model not builtLow riskOhm's law: current against voltage for two fixed resistors
For a metal resistor at steady temperature the current is proportional to the voltage across it, and the constant ratio V / I is its resistance, so a larger resistance lets less current through at the same voltage.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPinhole camera: a model of how the eye forms an inverted image
Rays from each point of an object travel in straight lines through a small opening and cross there, so the image on the screen is inverted and its size depends on the distances. The eye forms its image on the retina in the same way, with the pupil as the opening and the lens gathering enough light to keep the image bright and sharp.
Practical, model not builtLow riskPitch and loudness: measuring frequency and amplitude with a phone spectrum app
The pitch of a sound is set by its frequency and the loudness by its amplitude, and both can be read from a microphone trace.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRefraction: tracing a ray through a rectangular glass slab
Light bends toward the normal when it slows on entering glass and away from the normal when it leaves, so a ray that passes through a parallel-sided slab comes out parallel to the ray that went in but shifted sideways.
Practical, model not builtLow riskResistance of a wire: how it changes with length
The resistance of a uniform wire is proportional to its length, because each extra centimetre adds the same opposition to the flow of charge.
Practical, model not builtLow riskRipple tank: reflection at a barrier and refraction into shallow water
Water waves reflect from a barrier at the same angle they arrive and change speed and direction when they cross into shallower water, the same behaviours that light shows at mirrors and glass.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSeries and parallel circuits: measuring current and voltage with one, two and three lamps
Adding lamps in series shares the supply voltage and lowers the current, while adding lamps in parallel gives each the full voltage and raises the total current drawn; the supply gives each unit of charge a fixed amount of energy, which series lamps share and each parallel branch receives in full.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSlinky waves: transverse and longitudinal pulses, wavelength, frequency and speed
A wave carries energy along a medium while the medium's parts only move about their rest positions, either across the direction of travel (transverse) or along it (longitudinal).
Practical, model not builtLow riskSolar cell output against tilt angle and distance from the lamp
A solar cell transforms light energy into electrical energy, so its output depends on how much light energy lands on it each second, which falls as the cell tilts away from the light and as the distance from the source grows.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSound is a vibration: tuning fork in water and dancing sprinkles
Every sound comes from a vibrating source, and the vibration passes through the air to make other objects vibrate.
PracticalLow riskSound through solids, liquids and gases: string telephones, a bench and an underwater tap
Sound travels through any material whose particles can pass on a vibration, and it travels faster and further through solids than through air.
PracticalLow riskTotal internal reflection: finding the critical angle with a semicircular slab
Light leaving glass for air bends away from the normal, and beyond a certain angle, the critical angle, it cannot leave at all and is entirely reflected inside, which is how optical fibres keep light inside them.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWhite light: dispersion by a prism and absorption by colour filters
White light is a mix of colours that a prism spreads out by refracting each wavelength a different amount, and a colour filter transmits its own colour while absorbing the rest.
PracticalLow 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.