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
23 practicals
Chemistry · Particles and states of matter
Bend, twist, stretch and fold: changing materials without changing what they are
Physical actions change a material's shape, and some changes spring back while others stay, but the material stays the same stuff.
PracticalLow riskBreaking into smaller pieces: crushed chalk is still chalk
Snapping and crushing chalk makes smaller and smaller pieces without making a new material: the powder marks paper the same way, the pieces still add up to the same length, and the sealed bag weighs the same at every step.
PracticalLow riskChocolate, butter, wax and ice: different solids melt at different temperatures
Each solid changes to a liquid at its own temperature, so a warm-water bath with a thermometer lets a learner read off the melting temperature of several everyday materials.
PracticalLow riskCooling curve: how fast a cup of warm water loses heat
A warm object loses heat to cooler surroundings, quickly at first and more slowly as the temperatures get closer, and a lid or insulation slows the loss.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFreezing water: it takes up more room as ice
Removing heat turns liquid water into solid ice, and unlike most substances water expands when it freezes, which can be measured as a rise of about 9 percent in volume.
PracticalLow riskMelting ice: the thermometer stops at zero
Adding heat to ice makes it melt, but while ice and water are together the temperature stays at 0 degrees Celsius because the energy is being used to change state, not to warm the water.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSolid or liquid? Testing properties, then meeting cornflour slime
Solids keep their shape and liquids take the shape of their container and can be poured, and testing those properties on a cornflour and water mixture shows why scientists test rather than assume.
PracticalLow riskBalloon on a bottle: air expands when it is warmed
Warming a gas makes its particles move faster and spread out, so air in a bottle expands and inflates a balloon, and cooling reverses it, without any air being added.
Practical, model not builtLow riskFood dye in hot and cold water: particles move faster when warm
Particles in a liquid are always moving and move faster when warmer, so a drop of dye spreads through warm water sooner than through cold, though the fast swirling seen in a glass is mostly currents and true particle spreading is slow.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSquash the syringe: gases compress, liquids do not
Gas particles are far apart with empty space between them, so a sealed syringe of air can be pushed to half its volume, while water particles are already touching and the plunger will not move.
Practical, model not builtLow riskHeat and food: which changes can be undone?
Heating melts chocolate and butter, changes that reverse on cooling, but sets egg white and browns bread, changes that make new substances and cannot be undone.
Teacher-led practicalPracticalMedium riskAmmonia and hydrogen chloride diffusing along a tube: the white ring
Gases diffuse at speeds set by their particle mass, so two gases released at opposite ends of a tube meet nearer the heavier gas.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtHigh riskBrownian motion: smoke particles jostled by air molecules under a microscope
Invisible air molecules are moving fast and at random, because visible smoke specks they strike jiggle without any other cause.
PracticalLow riskCooling curve of stearic acid: temperature holds steady while a liquid freezes
During a change of state the temperature stays constant even though the substance keeps losing heat, because the energy goes into rearranging particles rather than slowing them.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskGas particles move: carbon dioxide diffusing between two test tubes
Gas particles are in constant random motion, so a gas spreads into the space available even without stirring or wind.
Practical, model not builtLow riskIron and sulfur: a mixture you can un-mix and a compound you cannot
Two elements mixed keep their own properties and can be separated, but once they react the compound formed has new properties and the elements can no longer be pulled apart physically.
PracticalMedium riskMetal or non-metal: testing lustre, conductivity and malleability
Elements can be sorted as metals or non-metals by testing physical properties, and a few elements such as graphite and silicon break the pattern, which is why the classification rests on several properties rather than one.
PracticalLow riskPhysical or chemical change: evidence from seven small changes
A chemical change makes a new substance, shown by a new colour, a gas, a solid or an energy change that cannot be undone by a physical method, while after a physical change the same substance remains in a new form.
PracticalLow riskSplitting water: two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen
Water is a compound of two elements in a fixed ratio; an electric current decomposes it and the 2 : 1 gas volumes match the formula H2O.
PracticalLow riskBoyle's law and Charles's law with a sealed syringe, pressure sensor and water bath
For a fixed amount of gas, pressure times volume is constant at fixed temperature, and volume is proportional to absolute temperature at fixed pressure; both are limits of PV = nRT.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWeighing 50 mL of different gases: Avogadro's law and relative molecular mass from the ideal gas equation
Equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure hold equal numbers of molecules, so the mass of a fixed volume is proportional to the molar mass.
Teacher-led practicalPractical, model not builtMedium riskPressure and volume of a gas: Boyle’s law and a hidden systematic error
For a fixed amount of gas at constant temperature, pressure times volume stays constant; air hidden in the connecting tube is a systematic error that bends the data until it is counted.
Practical, model not builtLow riskTemperature and gas volume: Charles’s law and an estimate of absolute zero
At constant pressure a gas’s volume is proportional to its absolute temperature, so extrapolating measured volumes to zero estimates absolute zero, and the equipment limits how good that estimate is.
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.