PhET Blog

Try the new HTML5 iPad-compatible Forces and Motion: Basics simulation. Explore the forces at work in a tug of war or pushing a refrigerator, crate, or person. Create an applied force and see how it makes objects move. Change friction and see how it affects the motion of objects.

Like our tablet-compatible simulations? Support bringing Circuit Construction Kit to iPads: http://www.crowdrise.com/PhETHTML5CCKSimulation

Or support building the “Teach with PhET” website: http://www.crowdrise.com/helpbuildteachwithphet

Every donation helps! Together we can improve the way science and math are learned.

Try the newly published tablet-compatible John Travoltage simulation.

Make sparks fly with John Travoltage. Wiggle Johnnie’s foot and he picks up charges from the carpet. Bring his hand close to the door knob and get rid of the excess charge.

We’re excited to present the HTML5 version of Build an Atom. Now with your fingers, you can build an atom out of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and see how the element, charge, and mass change. Then play a game to test your ideas!

Watch your solution change color as you mix chemicals with water. Then check molarity with the concentration meter. What are all the ways you can change the concentration of your solution? Switch solutes to compare different chemicals and find out how concentrated you can go before you hit saturation!

We’re excited about our new grant proposal that we submitted to the Dept. of Education on building and studying math simulations, specifically for middle school. The funding would significantly expand our offering math offerings so keep your fingers crossed!

Have you tried our new HTML5 version of Balloons and Static Electricity?

Why does a balloon stick to your sweater? Rub a balloon on a sweater, then let go of the balloon and it flies over and sticks to the sweater. View the charges in the sweater, balloons, and the wall.

Try the new next-gen version of our popular Gravity Force Lab — now for touch and tablets! With a touch of your finger, experience how the gravitational force that two objects exert on each other changes as you alter their properties. What happens as you increase the mass of the objects? What happens as you move them farther apart?

We are so excited to release our next-gen HTML5 sims—just in time for the 2013-2014 academic year! These HTML5 versions not only are touch and tablet optimized but also have built-in flexibility that will enable us to easily facilitate future improvements, including enhanced 3rd-party customization and assessment abilities.

To learn about the new features, and the Future of PhET, watch the video on the right-side of the new (and temporary) “HTML5 HomePage”. The video gives tips on how to use the sims, as well as a glimpse to see what’s coming.

Do you like our new logo? We hope that the new logo reflects our mission to advance science and math literacy worldwide by making STEM active, engaging and most of all, fun!

And, if you’d like to support our next-gen sims, Donate today!
P.S. We are working on updating the logo on our donation page.

Teaching chemistry? To help you find the best simulation for teaching a specific topic in chemistry, we’ve put together this new preliminary guide that gives you a line up of specific simulations (and supplemental simulations) for topic areas in the general chemistry curriculum.

Want to share suggestions of other PhET sims you use for teaching chemistry topics? Let us know at the PhET Help Desk at phethelp@colorado.edu.

A big Shout Out to Bernard LaCour who pointed out a bug in Fluid Pressure and Flow. As soon as we heard about the problem, we addressed the issue and posted the fix. We know how important it is to correct any issue with our simulations. So if you find a problem, please let us know through the PhET Help Desk at phethelp@colorado.edu.

Thank you Bernard!