Aerospace engineers need to take into account the heat generated when the space craft move through the atmosphere at extreme speeds, both during launch and at re-entry, as without proper thermal protection the space craft could be destroyed. Insulating blankets, foams and tiles are used to protect the spacecraft....

Students will design a jet pack that can be worn by either the players or referee during a football game on the Moon. They will consider how a jet pack works and the different parts of a jet pack. They will then sketch an idea for a wearable jet pack with consideration for how it will fit, the weight of the jet...

This resource gives students a brief overview of the different options available when building a parachute for the CanSat Competition. Students will learn about the underlying physics of parachutes and their design and how to control the speed of their CanSat. 

Learning objectives:

• Understand...

In this activity, pupils will use the theme of the London Marathon to respond to a design context, investigate the context on the internet and design a wheelchair for sports use. 

Pupils will consider the use of different search...

This activity sheet is based on the Inventive Podcast.  It introduces a structural engineer and author, Roma Agrawal, and links her work to forces. The activity sheet also supports Careers Benchmark 4: Careers in the curriculum by introducing a career and role model. There are also links to short audio clips of the...

Published by LSIS, this research report describes a project undertaken by New College Nottingham. The project describes the creation of a webquest to aid the learning of space exploration for a BTEC first diploma.

Using a blog facilitated a dialogue between the students themselves and also with the class...

A Catalyst article about a brilliant new light source under construction in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside - the Diamond Light Source. Diamond will be a source of synchrotron light. Many of the everyday commodities people take for granted, from chocolate to cosmetics, from revolutionary drugs to surgical...

This Catalyst article looks at diamonds and shows how they have extraordinary properties: optical, thermal and when exposed to X-rays.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 27, Issue 2.

Catalyst is a science...

Practical use of diffraction gratings include emission spectra as well as explorations of the wave-particle nature of light and the interference patterns that emerge.

This A-level tutorial video follows on from the the distance, speed and time video.  It looks at the terms displacement and velocity and how they differ from speed and time.  An example of a displacement / time and velocity / time graph is given and discussed.  A...

With this a-level video tutorial, the presenter talks about how we get the equation speed = distance / time and then looks at the differences between a distance / time and a speed / time graph.  It also demonstrates what the area under the graph represents as well as the gradient.  This can be followed by the...

Produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, this activity takes students through a step-by-step approach to understanding the basic principles of distance-time and velocity-time graphs. Working through the activity will help students to:
* Understand the terms distance, time, velocity and...