Matter under the hood

Physics and Materials

These explainers turn invisible physical rules into something you can anticipate in wires, walls, and static sparks.

Start with How does static electricity work? All explainer groups
2 explainers in this cluster: how does static electricity work? how does insulation work?

Explainers

Pages in Physics and Materials

Charge, insulation, and material behavior explaining why familiar objects act the way they do.

Physics and Materials How does static electricity work?

A static electricity lab that lets you change humidity, rubbing, insulation, and charge leakage to see when cling stays gentle and when it jumps as a spark.

 Physics and Materials How does insulation work?

An insulation lab that lets you change thickness, trapped air, moisture, and compression to compare a lofty warm barrier with a flattened wet one.

Further Reading

Trusted places to keep exploring

These are good next stops if you want to move from a quick explainer into broader source material.

NIST www.nist.gov U.S. Department of Energy www.energy.gov NSF www.nsf.gov