learn physics easily



Andes Physics Tutor – Andes is an intelligent tutoring system which teaches students how to solve physics problems. It provides a complete set of homework problems for an introductory college physics course or a high school AP physics course.

Animations of Wave Motion – Animated GIFs and a discussion of some of the math involved.

APS – Division of Physics of Beams – History of beam physics research, and current information on the topic.

Art Ludwig’s Sound Page – Various explorations of sound, sound detection and sound measurement. Includes a section on physics of sound.

Astrophysics Science Project Integrating Research and Education (ASPIRE) – Site dedicated to helping teachers with lessons in physics and astrophysics by giving computer activities that help show how physical models work.

Bad Physics – Misunderstood things in physics with simple explanations.

Bicycle Physics – The physics of how to steer a bicycle, and how stop signs interfere with bicycle commuting.

Cartoons and Movies – Some diagrams and movies illustrating some otherwise abstract electrical principles.

Challenges In Teaching and Learning Introductory Physics – Addresses the troubles presented in introductory physics courses taken by students in their first two years of college.

Common Errors in Undergraduate Mathematics – This page describes the errors seen most frequently in undergraduate mathematics, the likely causes of those errors, and their remedies. Avoid these errors in order to improve in any math-intensive course, including physics.

Communities for Physics and Astronomy Digital Resources in Education (comPADRE) – A project to create well organized, digital collections of high quality educational materials in physics and astronomy. ComPADRE consists of focused collections of materials for specific courses or serving specific constituencies, with connections to a wide range of online digital resources including curricular materials, digital libraries, and online journals, user communities that participate in the development and operation of these collections.

Computer Simulation Methods – A web site devoted to faculty and students using computer simulation techniques as a method of discovery in physics. This is a companion site to a textbook, but provides content from other sources as well.

Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP) – A non-profit organization of teachers, educators, and physicists; at Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

CosmoLearning Physics – Educational website offering thousands of courses, books and video lectures by the world’s top scholars.

The Elements of Machines – Some simple machines, explained, described and illustrated.

Engineering Encounters – Bridge Design Contest – Bridge design contest (using specialized software). U.S. students age 13 through grade 12 are eligible for prizes. Anyone else may enter the Open Competition. Overview, rules, resources, software download and FAQ.

Exploring Physics in Cyberspace – This site describes several tested extracurricular programs geared to introducing hands-on interactive physics activities for K-12 students. Supported by the National Science Foundation.

Fundamental Physical Constants from NIST – The values of the fundamental physical constants provided at this site are recommended for international use by CODATA and are the latest available.

FYKOS – Physical Correspondence Seminary – Worldwide competition in physics for grammar school (under age 19) students with an interest in physics.

Glass: Liquid or Solid – Science vs. an Urban Legend – Addressing the widespread misconception according to which glass is a liquid.

GRE Physics Prep – Yahoo group for people preparing for GRE Physics.

Henry Greenside’s Duke Physics Challenges – Physics-related word-problem puzzles.

How Atoms Work – Shows how man determined the structure of the atom and learned how atoms interacted with each other.

How Everything Works – A service providing answers to questions about physics, science, and how things in the world around us work. Companion to the book by Louis Bloomfield called How Things Work.

How Things Work – A service providing answers to questions about physics, science, and how things in the world around us work. Companion to the book by the same name.

How to Study Physics – A University of Texas classic, written before the web was around, but now revised and web-ready.

HyperPhysics Concepts – A concept map of physics showing relationships between topics while giving explanations and references.

Interactive Physics Scenarios by A. John Mallinckrodt – A collection of intermediate and advanced level modules in mechanics, gravitation, thermodynamics, and electrostatics for use with the Interactive Physics software distributed by MSC Working Knowledge.

International Physics Olympiads – Regional and international physics olympiads. Information, mailing lists, and links to all the IPhO problems available on the web.

Intuitor – Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics – Reviews and rates Hollywood movies for bad physics content.

Kenny Felder’s Math and Physics Help Page – A collection of papers written to explain various concepts in math and physics, as well as papers generously donated by other people.

Mathematical Thinking in Physics – Articles, essays, and problems designed for students to learn more about the importance of math in the study and application of physics.

The Motion Mountain Physics Text – A free physics textbook on the introductory physics course level, written to be surprising, entertaining, and thought-provoking. Chapters are downloadable pdf files.

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) – Peer-reviewed online teaching and learning materials for physics.

NSTA – Position Statement on Laboratory Science – Since the laboratory experience is of critical importance in the process of enhancing students’ cognitive and affective understanding of science, the National Science Teachers Association makes the following recommendations.

Open Source Physics – The OSP project seeks to create and distribute curricular material for physics computation and physics education at all levels.

Physclips – Provides physics animations, learning and reference tools for students and resources for teachers. The level is approximately that of introductory university or advanced high school.

Physical Science for Nonscientists – Physics 1020 (2nd Semester) – Course website at University of Colorado. Includes lecture notes in pdf format.

Physical Science Resource Center (PSRC) – This site has plenty of resources for physics and physical science teachers K-16.

Physics 2000 – An interactive journey through modern physics. Have fun learning visually and conceptually about 20th century science and high-tech devices. Uses java applets.

Physics at Merton College – Matters related to the AS-level and A-level physics courses. The material covers topics in physics and its related mathematics and will supplement one’s normal classwork.

Physics Central – The outreach site of the members of The American Physical Society. Find out how physics is part of your world, ask questions on how things work, see physics in pictures, get updates on physics in the news, read about research and the people who are doing it and, if you want more, recommended links.

Physics Comics – Comics-style lessons in physics fundamentals. Topics include motion, forces, vectors, work and energy, and impulse and momentum.

The Physics Encyclopedia – This site provides exhaustive, comprehensive, carefully selected and structured lists on Internet physics resources.

Physics for Idiots – Provides simple explanations for a number of physics, space and maths concepts, trying to break them down into stuff that actually makes sense.

Physics Handbook.com – Provides an easy to use online physics textbook including laws, tables, experiments, a quiz and videos.

Physics Reference – Physics symbols, constants, and SI units, prefixes and rules.

Physics Teacher Education Program – Information on a BSc degree in physics teaching from Illinois State University.

Physics Virtual Bookshelf – A collection mostly of University of Toronto physics professor David M. Harrison’s various presentations and course materials.

Physics, the Neglected Science – Pages to help increase awareness about the value of physics and to lend support to high school physics students, teachers, and parents.

Practical Physics – Enables teachers of physics to share their skills and experience of making experiments work in the classroom.

A Prelude to the Study of Physics – A paper by Robert J. Sciamanda, first published in Quantum Vol 7 No 2, pg. 45, Nov/Dec 1996.

Professor Stephen Hawking Online – Biographical, educational, and scholarly. Also includes a bit of fun (did you know he was on The Simpsons TV show?)

The Quantum Exchange – A collection of information and resources for teachers of quantum physics.

QuarkNet – Supports centers at 60 universities and laboratories that are participants in the collider experiments at CERN in Switzerland and at Fermilab in Illinois. Physicists will mentor and collaborate with high school teachers. Stipends are provided to the teachers who participate.

School Mathematics and Science Programs Benefit From Instructional Technology – NSF report summarizes key findings about mathematics and science in controlled evaluations of instructional technology in elementary and secondary schools.

Science Animations – Provides a number of Flash animations to supplement handbooks in physics, maths and technology.

Science-Pseudoscience – Science, non-science and pseudoscience: a set of lessons to teach students to define and differentiate the three.

Select Physics Topics – This physics online ebook covers basic physics from Newton’s laws to electricity and magnetism. Lots of applets and animation included.

Simple Electric Motors – Summary of science projects by Stan Pozmantir, a junior secondary student. Easy-to-build and inexpensive electric motors utilizing many physics principles.

Society of Physics Students (SPS) – Complete set of information for members of any level of SPS. Scholarships and awards, news, activities, staff, structure, online forms, student resources, and links to significant physics sites.

The Sound of Solitary Waves – Physicists have demonstrated the first acoustic solitary waves in air–waves that can travel long distances without changing shape.

Space and Time – Course based on Stephen Hawking’s best selling book, “A Brief History of Time”. The course deals with topics in modern physics such as Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, Quantum Theory, Black Holes and the Creation of the Universe.

Spacetime Wrinkles – Major advances in computation are only now enabling scientists to simulate how black holes form, evolve, and interact. Learn about relativity and its predictions through text and video files at this site.

Srivastava’s Physics Foundation – Offers free educational material for students preparing for various competitive physics examinations. Includes more than 100 flashlets, modules, test papers and theory lessons.

Static Electricity – Scientific explanation of the phenomenon of static electricity.

Teralab – Descriptions and photographs of electrostatics, electron bombardment and wave experiments done with home equipment.

Thermal and Statistical Physics Curriculum Development Project – Includes an introduction to the project and its conferences, related papers and links, and some Java applets.

Todd’s Quantum Intro – A brief overview of quantum mechanics.

TYC Physics Workshops – Information about workshops provided for two-year or community college physics teachers and the products of this project.

UMPERG: Minds-On Physics (MOP) – A one-year curriculum for high-school physics. It is the result of a materials-development project supported by the National Science Foundation, and its design was guided by educational research findings.

Web Physics Project – A flexible low budget outlet for small volume, high quality, HTML-based curricular material. It provides a forum for physics educators to exchange curriculum ideas and resources that make use of web technology (primarily public domain material), and provides a medium for the dissemination of student work.

World Year of Physics 2005 – Plans to bring the excitement of physics to the public and inspire a new generation of scientists. Includes information about projects, events and Einstein, sources for teachers, downloads, international links and press room.