PhET Blog

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

Thank you Bernard!

With Spring finally here and rainbows soon to follow, explore PhET’s Bending Light simulation and learn why rainbows are ROYGBIV.

We’re excited to add our last Java-based simulation, Energy Forms and Changes. Explore how heating and cooling iron, brick, and water adds or removes energy. See how energy is transferred between objects. Build your own system, with energy sources, changers, and users. Track and visualize how energy flows and changes through your system.

We’ve been busy working on making our simulations iPad compatible. We hope to have a number of them ready over the summer so they will be available for the 2013-2014 school year, including Build an Atom, Concentration, and Ohm’s Law.

Right now user donations are our key source of funding towards converting simulations to HTML5 and bringing them to iPad and Android tablets.

So please consider donating today. And, thank you to those of you who have already donated. Your support will help keep our work funded through the summer.

Donate Now to help support iPad compatibility!

In the middle of modern physics? Try our “Intro to Photoelectric Effect Interactive Lecture.” These lecture notes include many concept questions and an interactive lecture demo, for a 2-3 day introduction to the Photoelectric Effect.

Ever wonder how a new simulation is created? In this new video PhET: Research and Development, you can see what’s behind the development of a PhET simulation and how we use research to enhance learning. Learn how we choose what topic to address, all the way through to how we test our simulations.

With the new “Acceleration Lab” tab in the Forces and Motion: Basics simulation, students use an acceleration meter and a bucket of water to explore the concepts of speed, acceleration and net force, and learn how they relate to Newton’s Second Law of Motion: F=ma.

With the new Radiating Charge simulation, you can learn how electric field lines from a point charge evolve in time as the charge moves. Watch radiation propagate outward at the speed of light as you wiggle the charge. Stop a moving charge to see bremsstrahlung (braking) radiation. Explore the radiation patterns as the charge moves with sinusoidal, circular, or linear motion. You can move the charge any way you like, as long as you don’t exceed the speed of light.