Tales from the Prep Room: the Ames Room
Produced by the Royal Institution, this short video clip shows how perception can be confused in an Ames room. The video shows the production of the room, which has a checked floor, windows and ceiling that appear to be normal but is in fact distorted. The overall effect is that moving to different parts of the room give a distorted…
Colour Mixing
This video from the Royal Institution describes how colour mixing works. Colours of light cannot be mixed in physics but different cones in your eyes are sensitive to different colours. The brain interprets a mixture between the two as a colour somewhere between the two. In the case of magenta, your brain invents this colour…
Caesium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Despite forgetting his periodic table party trick, presenter Dallas Campbell explains why travelling around the world made him partial to element number…
Mercury
Andrew Marmery and Olympia Brown, from the Royal Institution, celebrate filming the Christmas Lectures by sharing their love of element number 80. Mercury, called quicksilver by the ancient alchemists, is the only metal which is liquid at room temperature. Olympia shows how beautiful the metal looks as she moves it around a…
Beryllium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. In this short film, biochemist Liz Bonnin looks to the stars for her pick from the periodic table. The properties of beryllium make it the perfect…
Calcium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Helen Czerski explains why her favourite element is vital for life, but also important in death because 'it sticks around'. Many organisms…
Tales from the Prep Room: Diffraction
From the Royal Institution, this short video shows how to use a laser and a piece of thin wire to show a diffraction pattern. Adding more wires into the path of the laser changes the diffraction pattern that is generated. Another diffraction pattern is seen when the laser is aimed at the fine coil of a filament lamp. The process…
Oxygen
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. In this short film, former Christmas Lecturer Professor Mark Miodownik admits an addiction to his favourite element, oxygen. Making up almost 21% of…
Helium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. From the floor of the Science Museum in London, Roger Highfield explains why the scarcity of his favourite element should concern us all. Roger describes…
Cloud Chamber
This video from the Royal Institution shows tracks within a cloud chamber. A supersaturated layer of alcohol vapour exists just above the floor of the chamber and the ionisation radiation causes vapour to condense along the path of the radiation. An Americium source is introduced into the chamber so that tracks from alpha radiation…
Tales From the Prep Room: Alkali Metals
This video from the Royal Institution shows how a small piece of sodium on the end of a match head will burn if a few drops of water are added to the sodium. All alkali metals are very reactive in air and with water. Potassium is more reactive than sodium, and the video shows how only one drop of water can make the potassium burn…
Tales from the Prep Room: Argon Ice
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video demonstrates how to freeze argon gas using liquid nitrogen. The solid argon can be used to show the transitions from solid to liquid and to gas. Argon freezes at around -190oC and boils at about -187oC, so it has a very narrow liquid phase. The video shows how the solid argon quickly…
Tales from the Prep Room: Making Sand Swim
Produced by the Royal Institution, this short video shows how compressed air can have some unusual effects on the properties of sand. Passing compressed air through a layer of sand causes the sand particles to flow over each other similar to a fluid. In the 'fluidised bed' the sand acts like a liquid and objects on the…
Tales from the Prep Room: Magnus Cups
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video demonstrates the effects of air movement over a spinning surface and how it can be used to generate lift. The demonstration is simple and uses just two polystyrene cups joined to produce a 'Magnus Cup.' When launched, the Magnus Cup spins backwards and this generates lift…
Tales from the Prep Room: Lighting a Match with Water
Produced by the Royal Institution, this video shows how superheated steam can be generated and used to light a match. The clip shows how the equipment is set up to produce steam and then heat it further in a copper coil. This produces superheated steam at a temperature in excess of 200oC. The demonstration can be used to stimulate…
4/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Video
Tales from the Prep Room: Liquid Oxygen
This video, from the Royal Institution, shows how liquid oxygen is made using an oxygen gas cylinder and liquid nitrogen to condense it to a liquid. Pouring liquid oxygen between the poles of a magnet demonstrates how the unpaired electrons within the material have a residual dipole and can act as a weak magnet. This called paramagnetism.…
Listening to a Locust Brain
Produced by the Royal Institution, this short video illustrates how the nervous signals generated when a locust detects movement, can be shown. The clip shows a locust which is immobilised to enable the nerve signals passing down its visual neuron to be detected. These signals are amplified and converted into sound. This produces…
Calculating Colours
This practical activity from the Royal Institution provides students with an understanding of the different ways in which proportion can be expressed. Through a mixture of explanation and practical work, students explore how it is possible to give an accurate quantitative description of colours. Students mix varying quantities…
Mirrors and Angles Investigation
In this practical activity, from the Royal Institution, students use paired mirrors to investigate repeated reflections and the symmetrical properties of certain polygons. Based on observations made about these symmetries, students then look at how the mirrors and reflections allow them to deduce the angles in various shapes,…
Sierpinski Triangles Investigation
This resource, from the Royal Institution, provides students with the opportunity to explore patterns in mathematics. The activity begins by considering observed patterns in number sequences and progresses to the concept of fractals, which is introduced to students through playing 'the chaos game'. Students construct…
Platonic Solids
This resource, from the Royal Institution, provides a practical experience which introduces students to the classification of 3D shapes. Modelling equipment is used to construct solids and explore possible shapes that can be formed with only triangular, square or pentagonal faces. Students also learn about Platonic solids, which…
What Can Soap Films Tell Us about Motorways?
This resource, from the Royal Institution, provides a series of activities which draw together a range of areas of mathematics and its applications, as well as considering how and why soap bubbles can provide the answers to some seemingly unrelated questions. Students design and test motorway networks connecting cities and, through…
Lithium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. In this short film, physicist Jim Al-Khalili focuses his attention on the very strange nucleus from an isotope of lithium that only exists due to the…
City Walk
This resource, from the Royal Institution, includes an example of a school outing that centres on mathematics. A trip to famous London buildings provides a natural context to integrate mathematics, engineering and technology. Creativity and knowledge are used to address energy efficiency issues, touch on topics such as surface area,…
Potassium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Internet technologist Ben Hammersley explores the powerful properties of the "really awesome" element, potassium. This soft metal is kept…
Curved Fold
This resource, from the Royal Institution, provides students with the opportunity to explore the formation of a parabola through a paper folding activity. Students follow a set of simple instructions which describe how to fold a piece of A4 paper and are asked to describe what shape is produced. The activity is complemented by two…
Carbon
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Structural biologist Professor Stephen Curry talks about the multiple forms of carbon - an element vital for life on earth but one that could also…
Veritasium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. From the roof of the Royal Institution, Derek Muller from the Veritasium YouTube channel stresses the need to communicate the beauty and importance…
Alkali Metals
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Whilst on the set of Science Club, presenter Dara O'Briain explains why he is such a fan of the group of elements known as the alkali metals.…
Copper
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Jerry Hall demonstrates the beauty and versatility of her favourite element, copper. Copper turns green when exposed to the atmosphere on buildings,…
Praseodymium and Neodymium
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements in the periodic table that really excite and inspire people. Chemist Andrea Sella, from the University College London, picks praseodymium and neodymium as his favourite elements. He explains…
Hydrogen and Oxygen
In the build-up to the Christmas Lectures in 2012, the Royal Institution published a new video for every day of advent revealing the elements that really excite and inspire people. Demo developer and science presenter Fran Scott has two favourite elements: hydrogen and oxygen. She demonstrates the explosive nature of hydrogen…