The mission of the Iowa Science
Teachers Section of the Iowa
Academy of Science is to advocate
for excellence in science education
by promoting professionalism,
influencing policy, and enhancing learning.

The mission of the Iowa Academy of Science is to further scientific research and its dissemination, education in the sciences, public understanding of science, and recognition of excellence in these endeavors.

• The ABC's of Nuclear Science - "Visit here and learn about radioactivity - alpha, beta and gamma decay. Find out the difference between fission and fusion. Learn about the structure of the atomic nucleus. Learn how elements on the earth were produced. Do you know that you are being bombarded constantly by nuclear radiation from the Cosmos? Discover if there are radioactive products found in a grocery store."
• American Institute of Physics
• The American Journal of Physics
• Careers Using Physics: Not Just Equations Anymore - For those considering an education and career in physics, this site may be just the ticket. It provides much more than links to the expected resources, like graduate school information and professional organizations, by delving into the experiences of Physicists out in the workforce.
• Center for History of Physics - The mission of the American Institute of Physics' (ADP) Center for History of Physics "is to preserve and make known the history of modern physics and allied fields." Visiting the History Exhibits, teachers and students can find interactive tutorials about many prominent physicists and important research such as Heisenberg's theory of uncertainty and the discovery of the electron.
• Conceptual Physics - an online Conceptual Physics Tutorial. Provides information for students on mechanics, properties of matter, heat, sound and light, electricity and magnetism, and atomic and nuclear physics.
• The Constants and Equations Page - The Institute of Physics, which was established to promote the advancement and dissemination of physics, sponsors the Constants and Equations Pages. The Web site is described as an on-going project to list together as many different constants and equations as possible. Visitors will find the resources within either the math, science, or astronomy categories.
• Einstein - From the American Museum of Natural History comes the online exhibit on the life and legacy of Albert Einstein. Students (who should probably be at least of high school age) can learn about Einstein?s revolutionary thinking; his work with light, time, energy, and gravity; his thoughts on peace and war, on being a global citizen, and his legacy according to the museum.
• Electricity Database Files - The Electricity Database Files Web site from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration division contains several helpful resources. The site's two main categories are entitled Electric Generator Databases and Power Plant Databases, which contain more than a dozen links to related information.
• Electronics Tutorials - This site offers free tutorials about amplifiers, oscillators, ham radio, filters, power supply, transmitters, receivers, and radio and electronics design as well as basic electronics (Ohm's Law, voltage, resistivity, etc.). The topical pages provide fairly non-technical, clear text with hyperlinks to related topics, schematics, and formulae.
• Fear of Physics - This site will erase any fear of physics you may have by showing you just how much fun it can be! You will be entertained and educated by the animations and interactive games.
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• Funderstanding Roller Coaster - Provided by Funderstanding.com, the Roller Coaster Java applet Web site allows students to design their own roller coaster. After waiting for the program to load, users can change the height of two hills and the loop, the speed and mass of the car, and the gravity and friction being applied. After hitting the green start button, you get to see if the car flies off the track or doesn't make it through the loop.
• General Atomics Fusion Group Educational Home Page - energy information galore
• Glossary of Frequently Misused or Misunderstood Physics Terms and Concepts - The Glossary of Frequently Misused or Misunderstood Physics Terms and Concepts is provided by Donald E. Simanek of Lock Haven University.
• Gravity Probe B: The Relativity Mission - Physicists and Engineers from Stanford University and NASA have combined efforts to create "a relativity gyroscope experiment...to test two extraordinary, unverified predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity."
• Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - CHEMnetBASE is an informational Web site provided by the chemical reference publisher Chapman & Hall / CRC. Although some resources on the site are for subscribers only, the Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is available to anyone.
• HyperPhysics - This site is a broad-ranging interactive physics exploration environment which is written in HTML with Javascript calculation routines.
• Institute of Physics
• Interactive Tutorial about Diffraction - A multitude of examples are used to present atom scattering, crystal structure, convolution theorem, Fourier transformations of crystal phase, and other topics. The interactive examples are simulations, using software developed by the authors, where students can input the number of atoms or atom type, etc. and view results as .gif images.
• Making Waves - Provided by Living Graphs, Making Waves is a freely downloaded interactive physics package that helps students visualize and understand the motion and interference of transverse and longitudinal waves. Designed for senior high school and college physics students, the interactive program allows users to manipulate wave properties such as their amplitude, wavelength, phase shift, speed, frequency and damping; standing waves; and mks units.
• Math and Physics Help - This site is intended for undergraduate students in physics and mathematics who need a helping hand with those late-night study sessions. Particularly enjoyable sections found here are "What dX Actually Means" and "Think Like a Physicist or, Why do Physicists Waste So Much Time Talking About Math?"
• Museum of Ancient Inventions - Did you know the first battery was invented around 250 B.C.E.? Can you imagine what it looked like? This cool virtual museum of ancient inventions has photos of replicas of fascinating inventions and tells how these models were made.
• Optics Notes - OpticsNotes.com was created for engineers, scientists, technicians, students, and others to find resources, references, and tutorial information available about Optics and Photonics on the Web. This deliberately graphic free site is simple to use and offers an abundant amount of great information on a unique subject. Users can choose from several links that include optics fundamentals, design, components, manufacture, applications, reference, and industry.
• Paper Airplane - The author of this site holds the Guinness world record for time aloft for paper airplanes. This site is a good resource for paper airplane aerodynamics, paper airplane history, and instructions for building super paper airplanes!
• The Particle Adventure - This virtual tour of the inner workings of the atom is provided online by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Definitions of the Standard Model of particles and explanations of experimental evidence for it are given in a format geared toward high school and introductory college level students.
• The Physics of Baseball - This site is created and maintained by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physics professor, Alan M. Nathan.
• Physics Central - Physics Central is how the 42,000 physicists of the American Physical Society "communicate the excitement and importance of physics to everyone." The continually updated Web site provides news and insight into the world of physics through articles, subject and physicist features, pictures, answered questions, and much more.
• The Physics Classroom - Developed for high school physics students by Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, the Physics Classroom Tutorial offers clear and concise details of the basic physics topics. The website, modeled like an online physics book, contains a series of main categories, which are divided into lessons and sub-lessons.
• Physics Lessons, Tutorials, and Help - The Physics Lessons, Tutorials, and Help Web site is offered by Science Joy Wagon and the Ithaca City School District. Numerous interactive lessons, simulations, descriptions, and other online learning material are categorized into nine subjects including motion; forces; work and energy; momentum; electricity and magnetism; waves, light, and sound; modern physics; and nuclear physics.
• PhysLink
• Physics Today
• Quantum Physics Online - Developed by Manual Joffre, Jean-Louis Basdevant, and Jean Dalibard at France's Ecole Polytechnique, this Web site covers topics in introductory quantum mechanics through a series of animations and simulations. Topics covered include Wave Mechanics, Quantization in one and three dimensions, Quantum Superposition in one and two dimensions, and Spin 1/2.
• Relativistic Heavy Ion Supercollider - Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Supercollider (RHIC) facility provides this information-rich Website about the physics and engineering of the world's newest and biggest particle accelerator.
• Relativity: The Special and General Theory - An online English text version of the great physicist and humanitarian Albert Einstein's "Relativity: The Special and General Theory" from Robert W. Lawson's 1920 translation.
• The Science of Light - The Annenberg/CPB Project provides educators with online classroom activities and background information about light in color and the laws of light.
• Simple Machines - At this website, EdHeads, a nonprofit, offers five interactive, animated modules to educate second- through sixth-graders about simple machines. By identifying the many machines located throughout a house, students can learn about fulcrums, wheel and axles, levers, pulleys, inclined planes, and much more.
• Sodaplay - At this site you can play with "Sodaconstructor," a computer program that animates and edits two-dimensional models made out of masses and springs. You can play the ready-made models or build your own.
• The Official String Theory Web Site - The Official String Theory Web Site, created by a group of highly educated physicists, is a great resource for everyone interested in physics and the string theory. It begins with educational and stimulating discussion about theoretical physics and the basics of string theory. Users can find out about the experimental tests and the math used by string theorists. Visitors can take a trip through the Big Bang, view amazing images of black holes, and learn about the history of string theory. Students and educators can listen to interviews of the many scientists who contributed to this informative site.