Make a whole rainbow by mixing red, green, and blue light. Change the wavelength of a monochromatic beam or filter white light. View the light as a solid beam, or see the individual photons.

This is a self-contained book-on-the-web course on basic astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, the sun (and associated physics), and spaceflight and spacecraft. covers elementary astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, the Sun and related physics and spaceflight. Also included are a Spanish translation, 46 lesson plans, a short but complete math course (algebra + trig), teachers' guides, glossary, timelines, 345 questions (current tally) by users and their answers, over 100 problems to solve, and more.

This Website provides resources for secondary and post-secondary teachers of physical science. These resources include data reduction projects and particle physics datafiles. The data reduction projects guide student investigation of a dataset to a particular end result. The datafiles are written in a format that allows for rapid Web file transfer and ease of import into commonly available applications such as Microsoft Excel. Students download and reduce these data in an open-ended environment in which they investigate their own questions. The first of these resources is a data reduction project that guides students to an understanding of special relativity.

Create a laser by pumping the chamber with a photon beam. Manage the energy states of the laser's atoms to control its output.

This OLogy trivia game offers a fun way to test kids' knowledge of light. The game board (included in a printable PDF) represents an atom, with a central nucleus circled by two orbits. Each player represents an electron that has been bumped into the atom's outer unstable orbit. Kids answer the questions about light on the trivia cards (included in a printable PDF) as they move around, circling the outer orbit. The first player to make it around the game board pops back into the stable orbit, emits light from the atom, and wins. Two additional overview articles are included with the activity: Where Do Photons Come From? and Einstein Sheds Some Light on a Mystery.

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science demonstrates the law of reflection by showing how light energy is reflected off both smooth and rough surfaces at predictable angles.

How did scientists figure out the structure of atoms without looking at them? Try out different models by shooting light at the atom. Check how the prediction of the model matches the experimental results.

Do you ever wonder how a greenhouse gas affects the climate, or why the ozone layer is important? Use the sim to explore how light interacts with molecules in our atmosphere.

Parallel treatments of photons, electrons, phonons, and molecules as energy carriers, aiming at a fundamental understanding of descriptive tools for energy and heat transport processes from nanoscale to macroscale. Topics include the energy levels, the statistical behavior and internal energy, energy transport in the forms of waves and particles, scattering and heat generation processes, Boltzmann equation and derivation of classical laws, deviation from classical laws at nanoscale and their appropriate descriptions, with applications in nanotechnology and microtechnology.

Produce light by bombarding atoms with electrons. See how the characteristic spectra of different elements are produced, and configure your own element's energy states to produce light of different colors.

See how light knocks electrons off a metal target, and recreate the experiment that spawned the field of quantum mechanics.

This animation shows how photovoltaic panels and their solar cells capture sunlight's energy and create electricity. Solar cells are designed to free electrons from absorbed photons with a positive and a negative layer that create an electric field.

Experimental basis of quantum physics: photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, photons, Franck-Hertz experiment, the Bohr atom, electron diffraction, deBroglie waves, and wave-particle duality of matter and light. Introduction to wave mechanics: Schroedinger's equation, wave functions, wave packets, probability amplitudes, stationary states, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and zero-point energies. Solutions to Schroedinger's equation in one dimension: transmission and reflection at a barrier, barrier penetration, potential wells, the simple harmonic oscillator. Schroedinger's equation in three dimensions: central potentials, and introduction to hydrogenic systems.

Experimental basis of quantum physics: photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, photons, Franck-Hertz experiment, the Bohr atom, electron diffraction, deBroglie waves, and wave-particle duality of matter and light. Introduction to wave mechanics: Schroedinger's equation, wave functions, wave packets, probability amplitudes, stationary states, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and zero-point energies. Solutions to Schroedinger's equation in one dimension: transmission and reflection at a barrier, barrier penetration, potential wells, the simple harmonic oscillator. Schroedinger's equation in three dimensions: central potentials, and introduction to hydrogenic systems.

When do photons, electrons, and atoms behave like particles and when do they behave like waves? Watch waves spread out and interfere as they pass through a double slit, then get detected on a screen as tiny dots. Use quantum detectors to explore how measurements change the waves and the patterns they produce on the screen.

6.977 focuses on the physics of the interaction of photons with semiconductor materials. The band theory of solids is used to calculate the absorption and gain of semiconductor media. The rate equation formalism is used to develop the concepts of laser threshold, population inversion and modulation response. Matrix methods and coupled mode theory are applied to resonator structures such as distributed feedback lasers, tunable lasers and microring devices. The course is also intended to introduce students to noise models for semiconductor devices and to applications of optoelectronic devices to fiber optic communications.