PhET Interactive Simulations
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Fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the PhET project at the University of Colorado Boulder.
To support PhET, visit giveto.colorado.edu/phet-interactive-simulations/?a=9076595 PhET Interactive Simulations is an ongoing effort to provide an extensive suite of simulations to improve the way that physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math are taught and learned. The simulations are interactive tools that enable students to make connections between real life phenomena and the underlying science which explains such phenomena. Our team of scientists, software engineers and science educators use a research-based approach – incorporating findings from prior research and our own testing – to create simulations that support student engagement with and understanding of scientific concepts. In order to help students visually comprehend these concepts, PhET simulations animate what is invisible to the eye through the use of graphics and intuitive controls such as click-and-drag manipulation, sliders and radio buttons. In order to further encourage quantitative exploration, the simulations also offer measurement instruments including rulers, stop-watches, voltmeters and thermometers. As the user manipulates these interactive tools, responses are immediately animated thus effectively illustrating cause-and-effects relationships as well as multiple linked representations (motion of the objects, graphs, number readouts, etc…). To ensure educational effectiveness and usability, all of the simulations are extensively tested and evaluated. These tests include student interviews in addition to actual utilization of the simulations in a variety of settings, including lectures, group work, homework and lab work. Our rating system indicates what level of testing has been completed on each simulation. All PhET simulations are freely available from the PhET website and are easy to use and incorpate into the classroom. They are written in Java and Flash, and can be run using a standard web browser as long as Flash and Java are installed.
Sim developer Marla Schulz talks about her learning experience while building the upcoming simulation: Photoelectric Effect. "I didn't know anything about quantum before I made this." Building the sim and seeing the particles move is how she learned. Get a sneak peak at an exciting simulation being released soon, and learn more about the people who build the tools your classroom relies on. While you're waiting on Photoelectric Effect to come out check out our other quantum sims on the PhET Website 🔗https://f.mtr.cool/eb66150lsl
09/21/2026
Which one doesn't belong? 🤔
01 Build an Atom,
02 Build a Fraction,
03 Build a Molecule,
04 Build a Nucleus.
Three share something; the fourth doesn't. Which is the odd one out? What's the rule?
Sim designer and developer Matt Blackman, takes us through the newly released sim: Quantum Wave Interference. Talking about visualizing quantum interference, "It's like saying, what does the number five smell like."
There is no correct picture of quantum interference. At that scale, seeing something means light bounces off and reaches your eye, and that act of looking is what ends the behavior you wanted to see. So with the help of physicists and teachers working in the field our team came up with a picture that got eight physicists in a room saying: yes that's it. Try it out for yourself: https://f.mtr.cool/6hlhvlmkk3
09/14/2026
One sim. Four concepts. 🎯
. Proportional reasoning. . arm.
Which PhET sim covers all four?
🔍 Clue: Your students have all played on one at the park. Guess in the comments.
09/08/2026
The vowels have left the building. 🎯
MK TN — 8 letters, 3 words. Name the sim.
🔍 Clue: it's turns around. Drop your guess below.
Every living thing takes in carbon-14 while it is alive. Once that intake stops, the carbon-14 already there starts to decay, and what is left behind becomes a clock. The Alpha Decay and Beta Decay sims let students run that experiment again and again and watch a random process take shape. Agustin Vallejo, astronomer and software developer at PhET, is building it now.
Follow us to be the first to know about free sims and resources for your classroom.
Women mapped orbits, built vaccines, and discovered treatments the world still runs on. Meet four of them.
⚛️ Marie Curie named radioactivity. 🌎 Katherine Johnson charted the path to orbit. 🌳 Wangari Maathai planted fifty million trees. 💉 Tu Youyou found a malaria drug that has saved millions.
Women have always shaped the world, and equal rights ensure the next ones can too. 💪 The future great names are sitting in your classroom right now.
Free sims and resources to help you get them there: https://f.mtr.cool/6jaalphieh
Some of you will get this in a few seconds. The rest of you are going to scroll our sim library pretending you weren't 😂
⚡🛹⛰️ = ? Name the sim.
Answer in the comments below.
Taliesin Smith is part of the team building a physics sim you can explore without looking at it. She's an inclusive design researcher at PhET, and on Quantum Wave Interference, an upcoming sim, she's overseen the interactive description design which allows a student to run a double-slit experiment by keyboard and hear the interference pattern described out loud as it builds. Her reason is simple: anyone should be able to learn science. Here's an early look.
Make a Ten just got a refresh. Students drag cards to break numbers apart and put them back together, reinforcing the "make a ten" strategy. New this release: improved ways to compose and decompose numbers, sound on every move, and it runs on any screen in dozens of languages. Great for number talks, intervention, building number sense, or independent exploration. Free, no strings. Save it for your math block: https://f.mtr.cool/ncovbzgvfm
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