Physics LibGuides: Internet Resources

• The WWW Virtual Library: Physics
  "The WWW Virtual Library (VL) is the oldest catalogue of the Web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML and of the Web itself, in 1991 at CERN in Geneva. Unlike commercial catalogues, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the Web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the Web."

• SPIRES-HEP Search
  "The SPIRES-HEP (High Energy Physics) database has been run by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center(SLAC) since the late 1960's as a database of particle physics literature. SLAC also collaborates with other physics institutions around the world on SPIRES. In 1991 it became the first web-site in North America and now attracts around 50,000 searches per day from particle physicists." There are links to arXiv, HEPDATA, PDG (Particle Data Group), and SLAC books (SLAC Research Library catalog).
• Weisstein's World of Physics

  A free online encyclopedia covering many fields in physics and astrophysics, maintained by Wolfram Research.

• NASA Astrophysics Data System

  The Digital Library for Physics, Astrophysics, and Instrumentation, the Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is a NASA-funded project which maintains searchable bibliographic databases for these fields and provides full-text scans of some scholarly astronomical literature.

• Astronomy Image Explorer
  • Access to many images published in peer-reviewed AAS journals
  • Users are able to search for images with any combination of author, journal, citation, format, and key words

• Planetary Data System

• Publicly available scientific data from NASA planetary missions, astronomical observations, and laboratory measurements. The PDS is sponsored by NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

• NASA/IPAC Intergalactic Database

  Search cross-referenced data about extragalactic objects, including redshift, wavelengths, and more.

• Skyview: The Internet's Virtual Telescope (NASA)

  Skyview is a user-driven image generator that presents customized images of any portion of the sky from a variety of surveys and in seven wavelengths.

• re3data
  • Global registry of research data repositories.
  • Consolidated registry of Databib and re3data.org.
  • Subject area is broad including the humanities, sciences, medicine and technology.
  • Useful for finding appropriate repositories for the storage and access of data sets.
• Figshare

  Figshare is a web service that makes data "citable, searchable, and shareable." Research data in a variety of formats is freely available through the figshare search tool and is protected under a Creative Commons copyright license.

The following websites are good places to begin exploration:

• Amusement Park Physics

  The resource allows users to design their own roller coaster, and along the way they will learn about the laws of gravity, pendulums, and kinetic energy. This resource contains interactive graphics and a glossary terms.

• Astronomy Online

• Auroras: Paintings in the Sky

  Self-guided lesson by Mish Denlinger, Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception, shows what auroras look like and explains how they are created.

• The Calculator Pad

  The Calculator Pad represents the effort of The Physics Classroom website to provide students with practice solving physics word problems. Approximately 30 problems of varying degree of difficulty are provided for each topic. Answers can be easily viewed by clicking a button. And an audio file (mp3 format) is provided which explains the solution to the problem in great detail.

• Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics

  This site contains information women physicists. Each biography page contains a photograph of the physicist, her major contributions and publications, honors, employment, education, additional information, and recommended reading.

• Cool Cosmos

  All about infrared astronomy, includes histrory, explanations, images, and videos.

• Eric Weisstein's World of Physics

  This site is part of the World of Science , an online encyclopedia created by Eric Weisstein, a Ph.D. in planetary science, "with assistance from the physics and internet communities."

• Fear of Physics

  Are you afraid of physics? Be fearful no longer, gentle reader. The Fear of Physics site has over twenty different interactive activities that teach the trepidatiously curious about physics via seesaws, basketball jump shots, a spinning wheel, and swinging pendulums.

• The Feynman Lectures on Physics

• History of Physics Online Exhibits

  These online exhibits thoroughly cover many topics.

• HyperPhysics

  HyperPhysics is an exploration environment for concepts in physics which employs concept maps and other linking strategies to facilitate smooth navigation. For the most part, it is laid out in small segments or "cards", true to its original development in HyperCard. The entire environment is interconnected with thousands of links, reminiscent of a neural network.

• Kepler’s Three Laws of Planetary Motion

  This site consists of an overview of Kepler’s laws, with examples, applications, problems and related history.

• NIST Reference on Constants, Units and Uncertainty

  The National Institute of Standards and Technology site provides access to the latest values for physical constants. You can search by name, or or display an alphabetical list by category.

• Physics Applets

  This website serves as a clearinghouse of high-quality physics applets that can be used in a variety of settings. Includes informatiuon on mechanics, waves, properties of heat and matter, and optics.

• Physics Central

  Physics Central communicates the excitement and importance of physics to its readers. Part of the American Physical Society site.

• Physics Flash Animations

  The site contains Flash animations that illustrate principles in such categories as optics, sound waves, vectors, and relativity.

• Physics Question of the Week

  Weekly physics questions are offered up by the University of Maryland's Department of Physics.

• PhysicsSongs.org

  "Walter F. Smith, Associate Professor of Physics, Haverford College, believes "songs about physics can help students to remember critical concepts and formulas, but perhaps more importantly they communicate the lesson that physics can be fun."

• Physics to Go

  A collection of more than 600 websites that you can search or browse to explore physics on your own. It's also a biweekly online magazine, with archives containing more than 55 selected physics images.

• PhysicsWorld

  Concise arrangement of links to companies, educational institutions, reference sources, exhibits, organizations, media.

• Science Hack

  ScienceHack indexes any science videos from YouTube and anywhere else they can find them and packages them fairly cleanly in one spot.