Simulations, animations and videos to teach Electricity - and now Radioactivity, too!

Unique insights into the physics. Easy for teachers, but amazing for students.

Our circuit simulations let students ‘see’ current and energy

Move seamlessly from visualisation to the mathematics.

Have a play around with the simulation

Our decay simulation shows changing nuclei AND radiation

Bring half-life to life, and see the iron-clad connection with radioactivity

Use in front of a class or as self-paced lessons.

Simulations and animations

For whole-class teaching

3-minute videos

For the classroom or for home learning

Online quizzes

Based on the visuals you’ve used to teach

Lessons covering the whole GCSE current electricity and radioactivity syllabus

Electricity Explained gives depth to the GCSE syllabus, rather than expanding it.

Series and parallel circuit simulations plus electricity animations

Looks great - sure. But it's the physics under the hood that makes us different

Everything is founded on a deep understanding of electric circuits and how to teach them.

Electricity Explained layers

Do your existing resources get these right?

How batteries behave

Batteries are constant voltage providers. (They’re not constant current providers)

If you change the resistance in a parallel circuit the battery provides a different current. (It doesn't just ‘split’ differently)

Batteries run out of chemicals to react (physical) or their store of energy (theoretical). (They don't run out of electrons)

Resistance in simple circuits

Heating happens where the resistance is, but increasing the resistance causes less heating, not more. (Charges don’t expend more energy ‘overcoming’ a higher resistance)

If you increase resistance, batteries work less hard, not harder. (Batteries don't struggle harder to try and reach some target current)

The rope loop model gets both of these wrong.

Sub-microscopic view

Charges make very slow progress, but are already there everywhere in the circuit, and start moving everywhere at almost exactly the same time. (They don't start from the battery and move quickly)

All changes to current or potential happen everywhere nearly instantly, not just connecting and disconnecting. (The speed of the charges is not the speed of the change)

Trusted by physics teachers for more than 20 years

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It’s all about teaching and learning

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Crunchy physics in a soft coating

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Let’s get started with Electricity Explained

Used by the world’s most innovative physics teachers since 2001

Insights into teaching and learning electricity

Why the rope loop is not great at predicting circuit behaviour

It’s claimed that the rope model has predictive powers - the problem is that in almost every case it predicts the exact opposite of how real circuits behave…more

Electrical ‘resistance’ is only a metaphor

The idea of electrical resistance is a horrible concept, and causes no end of confusion, though people are rarely aware that they’ve been confused. It’s one of the main…more

Battery voltage and the invisible 4th Law of electric circuits

When we have a simple circuit and we change the resistance, most teachers will simply say that you use the I=V/R relationship to calculate the new current…more

How batteries decide their chemical reaction rates

Batteries change the rate their chemical reactions run at depending on what they’re connected to - but how do they know what rate that should be?…more

Do charges ‘really’ carry energy?

They may or may not, but it really helps explain voltage and power if you pretend they do, and make this pretence explicit…more

The secrets to understanding electric circuits

Here are some rules of thumb that are either unmentioned or misunderstood in other resources that are really useful for understanding circuits… more

Circuit Surprises Quiz

How well do you understand simple electric circuits? The answer may surprise you!

Questions or thoughts about physics, subscriptions, teaching and learning or anything else?