Density: a regular block, an irregular stone and a liquid sim
Measure a block with a rule, find a stone's volume by displacement, weigh a liquid in a cylinder, and work out ρ = m ÷ V for each.
Density and pressure · covers the O-Level, IGCSE, GCSE 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.
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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
- Atom and nuclide builder simDrag protons, neutrons and electrons into an atom; read Z, A, the element, the nuclide notation and the charge, see whether the nucleus is stable or radioactive, and compare isotopes side by side.
- Centre of gravity of a plane lamina simHang a card from a pin at three holes, mark the plumb line each time, find the centre of gravity where the lines cross, and check it by balancing on a pencil point.
- Charging by rubbing: only electrons move simRub a polythene, acetate or glass rod with wool or silk, watch electrons move from one to the other, then bring the rod near a hanging charged rod or scraps of paper: like charges repel, unlike attract, and a charged rod pulls a neutral one.
- Circular motion: the whirling bung simWhirl a rubber bung on a string: set its speed, radius and mass and read the pull on a newton-meter, let go and watch it leave along the tangent, then hang slotted masses on the string, whirl until the paper clip holds steady, time ten turns and plot F against v².
- Convection in water and air simDrag 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.
- Cooling curve of a pure substance simMelt stearic acid (or paraffin wax) in a hot water bath, drag the boiling tube into an air jacket, click the stopwatch on 30 s at a time and read the thermometer at eye level; your readings make a cooling curve with a flat part at the freezing point, which you read off and explain (the wax, a mixture, has none).