A Catalyst article about the Kepler spacecraft, which is used to look for extra-solar planets. Scientists are hoping to shine light on the age old question of life’s existence elsewhere in the Universe using a new space-based telescope named Kepler. Launched on 6 March 2009, Kepler is searching the sky for small,...

A Catalyst article about physicists working at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider who hope to have received the first results from what is probably the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious scientific experiment ever carried out. Later, they hope to solve the mystery of the fundamental forces of nature.

The...

The STEM club from Holy Cross School in Chorley and the North West Local Centre of the Royal Meteorological Society collaborated on a project to launch a balloon into the atmosphere. The balloon was carrying a camera, a GPS transmitter and a radiosonde, an instrument which transmits measurements by radio waves back...

This Catalyst article looks at scuba diving, and how having a knowledge of physics is vital in helping divers to get out of dangerous situations. Divers must be trained to control their buoyancy, and to ascend and descend at a safe pace to avoid injury. Other factors explored in the article are the effects of...

A Catalyst article about the Nobel Prize for physics 2009 winner Charles Kao, who developed optical fibre systems and CCDs which are the basis of most of today's long distance telephone systems. Kao also developed tiny solid state lasers which work for years without failing. The article also looks at the bringing...

It takes a lot of rare natural resources and energy to make a mobile phone, laptop or computer, the modern technology we use every day. That is why many scientists would like to take inspiration from Mother Nature to help us to make more environmentally-friendly machines in the future.

This Catalyst article...

This Catalyst article describes how to make a lava lamp by using three simple ingredients: vegetable oil, food colouring and fizzing tablets. The article also explains the processes taking place inside a real lava lamp and why they happen.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume...

This Catalyst article includes a recipe on how to make a non-Newtonian fluid which flows in strange and unexpected ways.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 26, Issue 4.

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This Catalyst article describes how to make ice cream using a mixture of ice and salt, without the need of a freezer. Detailed instructions and an explanation of how it works is included, as well as a link to a video showing how the process can be sped up using liquid nitrogen.

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This Catalyst article looks at Marie Curie, who discovered two radioactive elements and showed that radioactivity was a property of atoms, not compounds. Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes, the only woman to have done so. She is still the only person to have won awards in both Physics and Chemistry. The article...

This publication from the National Physical Laboratory is an ideal resource for secondary teachers but could also be used by students at post-16 level. It can be used as a basis for best practice for taking measurements within the laboratory. The guide explains the basics of errors, uncertainties, spread, standard...

This article investigates the history of models of the atom and discovers how, a century ago, scientists were devising models of the atom in an attempt to explain the limited evidence they had about the fundamental structure of matter.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25,...

This Catalyst article takes a look at Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily, the biggest and tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world. The article explores the geology of the volcano, its history and the local habitat surrounding it including how the volcanic conditions create...

This Catalyst article looks at metals and alloys which play an important role in construction at the Olympic site, both in sports equipment and in medals. Designers must consider the properties of the materials used to make both sports equipment and buildings. These include strength, density, toughness, ductility...

This Catalyst article looks at how computer games make increasingly sophisticated use of the laws of physics to produce convincing on-screen effects. From calculating the angle that a ball bounces off a wall to modelling the frictional forces on a rally car, physics has always played a part in the development of...