Happy New Year!
And thank you to all those who pledged their support to PhET in 2012. We are looking forward to an exciting 2013 with new simulations as well as making our more popular sims tablet compatible.
Don’t forget to try the HTML5 prototypes at:
Have you received our December 2012 newsletter?
Find links to prototypes of Masses & Springs, Energy Skate Park, Build an Atom, Concentration and Faraday’s Electromagnetic Lab in HTML 5. We’re excited to be offering a sneak peek at our progress. Have fun!
If you didn’t receive the newsletter in your e-mail and want future newsletters, sign up at our website.
Don’t forget PhET this holiday season. Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
Now through the secure Network for Good.
Thanks Noah and Laura for catching an issue with the new Forces and Motion.
Just a day after we released an update, they quickly e-mailed us regarding the number of significant digits in some of the numerical readouts. PhET Developers Sam Reid, John Blanco and Chris Malley worked together to isolate and solve the problem, posting a fixed version the next day. And, we found that the “bug” also affected three other simulations, all of which have been fixed.
Thanks for reporting problems to phethelp@colorado.edu so we can get things fixed quickly!
Help support PhET developers. Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
If you’ve recently updated to Mac OS X 10.7 or 10.8, you may have received the message:
“To open this Web Start application, you need to download
the Java Runtime Environment.”
That’s because Apple Java was removed during the latest update. So when you receive this message, click “More Info“, and you will be taken to the java.com website for Version 7 at http://www.java.com/en/download/help/mac_install.xml.
Note: Once you’ve installed Java, you may need to reload or quit your browser in order to enable Java in your browser.
If you’re running Mountain Lion OS X 10.8, Gatekeeper (the new program introduced in OS X 10.8 designed to prevent potentially malicious apps from launching) may block the launch of the PhET sim. To override this, either modify Gatekeeper’s default settings or explicitly right/control-click the application and choose Open.
If you have additional questions, please e-mail phethelp@colorado.edu.
Help support PhET Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
We’re excited to add another simulation to our Basics series, designed specifically with middle-school students in mind.
With the new Forces and Motion: Basics simulation, explore the forces at work in a tug of war or by 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.
Help keep new sims coming: Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
Build fractions from shapes and numbers to earn stars in this fractions game or explore in the Fractions Lab. Challenge yourself on any level you like. Try to collect lots of stars!
Help keep new sims coming: Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
Did you try Molecule Shapes or Molecule Shapes: Basics, but couldn’t get it to run on your computer?
Well, try again! We’ve reprogrammed it to work with many older graphics cards. So if you’re still having troubles, please let us know so we can ensure that it works for everyone.
Help bring PhET to tablets: Donate to PhET’s Annual Campaign today.
Explore fractions while you help yourself to 1/3 of a chocolate cake and wash it down with 1/2 a glass of orange juice! Create your own fractions using fun interactive objects. Match shapes and numbers to earn stars in the fractions games. Challenge yourself on any level you like. Try to collect lots of stars!
We’re expanding our collection of earth science simulations with Plate Tectonics:
Explore how plates move on the surface of the earth. Change temperature, composition, and thickness of plates. Discover how to create new mountains, volcanoes, or oceans!
We’re excited to add to our collection of biology simulations with the latest new simulation, Gene Expressions – The Basics:
Express yourself through your genes! See if you can generate and collect three types of protein, then move on to explore the factors that affect protein synthesis in a cell.
