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
31 practicals
Physics · Energy and heat
Does a ball bounce back as high as it was dropped
A dropped ball never bounces back to the height it fell from, and a higher drop gives a higher bounce.
PracticalLow riskBlack can, white can: which warms faster in the sun?
The Sun is a source of heat energy, and a dark surface absorbs more of it than a light one, so water in a black can warms faster than water in a white can.
Practical, model not builtLow riskMelting race: which surface melts an ice cube fastest?
Ice melts when heat energy flows into it, and the surface it sits on controls how fast that heat arrives, so a metal tray melts a cube far faster than a foam plate.
PracticalLow riskMixing hot and cold water: where the heat goes
When hot and cold water mix, heat energy moves from the hotter to the colder until both share one temperature, and that temperature can be predicted from the masses and starting temperatures.
Practical, model not builtLow riskWhere does heat come from? Measuring five heat sources
Heat energy comes from several sources, the Sun, friction, electricity, chemical reactions and our own bodies, and each can be measured as a temperature rise.
PracticalLow riskWhich spoon warms first? Heat conduction in metal, wood and plastic
Heat energy is conducted along a solid, and metals conduct far better than wood or plastic, which is why a metal spoon in hot water soon feels warm at the handle.
PracticalLow riskKeep it cold: which wrapping slows an ice cube's melting?
An insulating material slows the flow of heat, so ice wrapped in wool or bubble wrap melts more slowly than ice in foil or bare, which is why eskies and jumpers work.
Practical, model not builtLow riskStretch and roll: how a stronger push sends a car farther
A stronger applied force, here a rubber band stretched further, transfers more energy to a toy car, so it rolls farther before friction stops it; for a band that stretches evenly, doubling the stretch roughly quadruples the distance.
Practical, model not builtLow riskSolar 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 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 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 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 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 riskAverage power in mechanical processes: stair climb and pulley lift (syllabus practical)
Power is the rate of doing work, so raising a known weight through a measured height in a measured time gives the average power directly.
PracticalLow riskEnergy transfer by conduction, convection and radiation, and a thermal conductivity measurement
A hot object loses energy by particle collisions through a solid, by bulk flow of a fluid, and by electromagnetic radiation, at rates set by the material and the temperature difference.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskHow hot is a Bunsen flame? Specific heat applied to a heated metal cylinder
A hot metal dropped into water reaches thermal equilibrium, and energy conservation lets the metal's starting temperature be found from the water's rise.
PracticalMedium riskLatent heat of fusion: ice in water calorimetry and a stearic acid cooling curve (syllabus practical)
During a change of state energy is transferred without a change of temperature, and that hidden energy per kilogram is the latent heat.
Practical, model not builtMedium 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 riskSpecific heat capacity by electrical heating: water and an aluminium cylinder
A measured electrical energy input raises the temperature of a known mass by an amount fixed by the material's specific heat capacity.
Practical, model not builtMedium riskA model house: testing wall and window materials for heat loss
A small model house and a heat-loss equation both predict how building materials change indoor temperature, and the model’s limits (scale, no sun, no draughts) are as instructive as its results.
Practical, model not builtLow riskConservation of energy in a pendulum measured with a light gate
The law of conservation of energy predicts a pendulum bob’s speed at the bottom of its swing from the height it was released, whatever its mass.
Practical, model not builtLow riskEnergy transfer in a bounce: tennis ball rebound against the ITF standard
Energy is conserved but not kept as motion: a bouncing ball returns only part of its gravitational energy, and a regulation tennis ball must lose between about 42 and 47 per cent of it in each bounce.
Practical, model not builtLow 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.