Convection in water and air sim
Drag a Bunsen burner or an immersion heater and a potassium permanganate crystal around a beaker of water and watch the purple trace the convection loop (or stay put when the water is heated at the top), then pull smoke through a candle-heated chimney box and drag the sun to turn a sea breeze into a land breeze.
Transfer of thermal energy: convection · covers the O-Level, IGCSE topic
Use it in your lessons
- Try it here: anyone can unlock 2 figures free, and a free account unlocks up to 5. Runs on a laptop, a Chromebook or a phone; nothing to install.
- Present it and share student links with the teacher plan, from US$5 a month, billed yearly.
- Put it on your own website or LMS for US$9, paid once, or every sim from US$29 a month.
Free guide: 12 practicals as sims, and how to run one in a lesson →
Need a version for your exact set-up? Have one made: US$49 a figure in an order of 5.
More physics sims
- Free-body diagram builder simDrag weight, normal contact, tension, friction, air resistance, driving force and push onto a book, a lamp, a box, a parachutist, a lift, a car and two joined blocks; set each size, check the diagram, and see the resultant and the motion it predicts.
- Friction: pulling a block with a newton-meter simPull a block with a newton-meter: friction matches the pull until the block slips, then drops to a smaller sliding friction. Change the surface, oil it, add masses, and plot friction against the normal force.
- Image in a plane mirror simFind the image of a pin in a plane mirror by moving a search pin until there is no parallax, or with two sight lines, then measure u and v with a rule and plot v against u.
- Impulse and safety: crumple zones, cushions, seat belts and airbags simCrash a trolley into a force sensor through a crumple zone or foam pad you drag thicker or thinner, drop an egg onto a tile, a towel or foam, and crash-test a car with and without a seat belt and airbag; place the logger's cursors, work out Δp and F = Δp ÷ Δt, and see the same area under a lower, wider force–time graph.
- Law of reflection with a ray box simAim a ray box at a plane mirror, mark the rays with crosses, read i and r from the normal with a protractor, and plot r against i. Then see a rough surface scatter the light.
- Levers, spanners and gears simPull on a spanner with a newton-meter at different distances and angles and see the perpendicular distance, read the force that turns the nut and work out its moment; drag the pivot of a crowbar or the load in a wheelbarrow; turn a gear pair and watch speed traded for turning effect.