Practical Experiments

There are many opportunities to carry out practical work in GCSE Physics. Videos can never replace the real hands-on experience or excitement - but these videos will help you understand more about the practicals required for your course.

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They also include blank results tables you can fill in or you can download a set of sample data to analyse.

This simple experiment, where a trolley is released from different heights on a ramp, is a great way to demonstrate the different types of variables (independent, dependent and control) as well as how the data can be analysed. These skills are important across all the GCSE Science subjects!

•      Specific Heat Capacity [FREE] - The specific heat capacity of aluminium and water is measured in these two experiments​

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•      Insulators - Bubble wrap is used to insulate a beaker of hot water - the number of layers is investigated

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•      Convection - Heat transfer in a fluid demonstrated in water

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•      Conduction - Heat transfer in different metals investigated

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•      Changing State - A temperature-time graph is recorded for melting ice

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•      Power - The average power of a human is calculated by making a person do exercises for a minute​ 

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•      Resistance of a Wire [FREE] - The relationship between length and resistance is investigated in this quick experiment

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•      Resistance of Resistors [FREE] - The total resistance of two resistors is measured when they are set up in series and in parallel

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•       Resistance of Filament Bulbs [FREE] - Two lamps are set up in series and parallel to investigate their combined resistance

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•      IV Characteristics [FREE] - The I-V characteristics of a resistor, a filament lamp and a diode can be identified from the graph of potential difference (voltage) against current

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•      Ohm's Law [FREE] - The relationship between voltage and current from a piece of wire

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•      Static - This shows how you can investigate static electricity and how an insulator can be charged by friction

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•      Density [FREE] - Measurements of mass and volume are used to determine the density of a regular object (wood), irregular object (polystyrene) and liquid (sugary water)

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•      Pressure and Volume of a Gas - The relationship between these quantities is investigated (also know as Boyle's Law)

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•      Modelling Radioactive Decay - 100 dice are used to model the random nature of radioactive decay and how half-life can be measured

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•      Radioactive Penetration - This video demonstrated how real radioactive sources of alpha, beta and gamma have different penetrating powers

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•      Trolley - A simple experiment that looks at measuring the average speed of a trolley at different heights

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•      Terminal Speed - Cup cake cases are dropped and their speed is measured when they are falling at a constant rate

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•      Force, Mass and Acceleration - The effect on acceleration of varying the force for a constant mass and varying the mass for a constant force

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•      Springs - The relationship between force and extension for a spring

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•      Rubber - The relationship between force and extension for rubber​​​

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•      Principle of Moments - The anti-clockwise and clockwise moments are calculated for a balanced system

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•      Centre of Mass - The centre of mass of an irregular 2D shape is measured

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•      Water Waves - The frequency and wavelength of water in a ripple tank is measured to calculate its speed

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•      Water Waves - Distance and time is measured in these experiments to measure the speed of water waves in a Gratnells tray and a ripple tank

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•      Waves in a Solid - A vibrating piece of elastic has its frequency and wavelength measured to calculate the speed of waves in it

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•      Oscilloscope - Using an oscilloscope to measure the frequency of a sound wave

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•      Reflection of Light - The reflection of light by different types of surfaces

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•      Refraction of Light (including Refractive Index) - The refraction of light by a rectangular glass block

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•      Infrared - The amount of infrared radiation absorbed or radiated by black and silver surfaces is investigated

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•      Magnetic Field Lines - The field around a permanent magnet is sketched using a plotting compass

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•      Electromagnets - The strength of a simple electromagnet is investigated by varying the current

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•      Transformers - The input and output voltages is related to the number of turns on the primary and secondary coils