Physics (junior)

Useful Physics words

Here are some words you may find useful when learning about physics:

Matter: Anything that has mass and occupies space. The most basic unit of matter is an atom.

Magnetism: A type of matter that has specific properties.

Sound: A wave that moves through matter and can be heard.

Light: A type of energy that is made of photons.

Motion: How objects move.

Astronomy: A particular branch of physics that studies the planets, stars and the universe

General Websites

Here are some websites to help you understand the subject of physics.

Britannica School

Britannica School is one of the EPIC resources. EPIC is a collection of resources covering lots of different topics. It's put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

• Choose Primary for an easy-to-read summary, or Middle for more detail.

• Enter the search word 'physics' into the search bar.

• Choose physics for an overview.

• Or you could search for a different chemistry word eg 'matter'.

Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6 pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Science Learning Hub

This site is funded by the New Zealand Government. There are articles, videos and activities to explore. You can search by topic, concept or the search feature. You can choose the Primary button to get results at that level.

• Go to Concepts to check out collections of articles, videos and interactives about different areas of physics.

• Look at Magnetism for an introduction to this topic.

• Look at Energy for information about what energy is, how it is used and how to measure it.

• Look at Newton's laws to find out about rockets, how they are made and how they move.

Tips: Websites that have .org or.net in the address can have good information. You can check the About Link on the website to see the information about who owns it and what it is about.

Crash Course Kids! YouTube

This is an educational YouTube channel with short videos about lots of science topics.

• Go to Playlists and find the playlist Physical Science: Introduction to Gravity.

• This is a list of videos about gravity.

• Choose one to watch.

Ducksters

This site has easy to read articles, diagrams and images on history, biography, geography, science and sport.

• Select Science.

• Then find Physics.

• Choose something to find out more about eg Heat.

Tips: Some websites have advertisements (or ads) which ask us to buy something or tell us to ‘click here’. It’s best to ignore these ads and focus on the information we’re looking for.

Physics4kids

A great site with basic information about physics. Each physics topic has facts, diagrams, and videos.

• Choose a topic from the links of the home page eg Electricity.

• This page gives an overview of electricity, electrons and charges.

• Choose another electricity topic from the menu on the right for more info eg Current.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. If you scroll to the bottom of the website you will see that it is belongs to Andrew Rader Studios.

Books

Check your school or public library to see what they have on physics. Here are some titles to begin with:

• Physics by Paul Mason.

• Physics for beginners by Rachel Firth, Minna Lacey & Darran Stobbar.

• Supersimple physics: The ultimate bite-size study guide by Leo Ball, Ben Davies, Hilary Lamb, Penny Johnson, Ben Morgan, Robert Snedden, Giles Sparrow, & Steve Woolley.

• Physics for kids: science experiements and activities inspired by awesome physicists, past and present by Liz lee Heinecke.

SCIS no: 5468582