Resources to help with science fairs and projects

Version 33b: May 13, 2018

This is a companion page to my Science fair projects page. It may one day support several books on projects which are on the back burner, but these two pages stand on their own.

I have done the 2011 cleaning out the dead links (some failures are marked as failed, because they need to be checked again, on my next pass). I hope to bolster some lean areas later, but that may take some time. I write for my living, and this is a hobby. If you hit a dead link, go to the site and poke around. In fact, poke around in any case: these are just starting places to gather terms and ideas, but most pages have links off them.

For example, I have just added two new astronomy links from onlineuniversity.net, after Jen Goethals alerted me to their existence. These cover "the solar system" and "comets and meteors". While I was checking the links out for quality (A++, as it happens) I kept darting off into the other links. So never just stop at the page I suggest!

This version 33a has those two new links, and I have done a long-overdue spell-check.

Why I have done this, and what I have done

The art of finding suitable references on the Web often comes down to knowing the right words to chase.

For example, you may not find many hits when you search for "stone tools", but if you know to look for the phrase "flint knapping", you can find lots of pages.

The catch is that you need to be an old hand like me, in order to know the jargon.

I have used my jargon skills to find you some starter pages, but there are probably more.

When you find a page that seems useful, you should look for technical terms in that page and chase them, so you can find more pages. This is a starting place, not a finish.

I have just finished checking for currency: a page has to fail twice, at least a month apart, before I remove the link. Quite a few of them, on past experience, will work next time. If not, they will be deleted.

Topic	Notes about the sites	Last viewed
Anatomy	A quick history of anatomy, with links.	July 26, 2011
Anatomy	The life of John Hunter.	July 26, 2011
Anatomy	The life of William Hunter and the history of anatomy.	July 26, 2011
Anemometers	a brilliant set of references.	July 26, 2011
Animal culture	a source for many manuals on keeping or culturing from the supply house, Carolina.	July 26, 2011
Animals in the wild	identifying animals by their droppings: what scat is that?	July 26, 2011
Antibiotics	A CDC set of FAQs: look also at the links	July 26, 2011
Antibiotics	A good general account of medical history: see the Penicillin tab for antibiotics. Link passed on by Courtney Riem.	June 17, 2011
Antibiotics	bacterial resistance to antibiotics.	July 26, 2011
Antibiotics	good tutorial on antibiotics: needs Shockwave.	July 26, 2011
Antibiotics	some background, good pictures, links.	June 17, 2011
Antibiotics	the sensible use of antibiotics.	July 26, 2011
Antibiotics	the Why Files look at why antibiotics lose their power.	July 26, 2011
Aqueducts	an excellent encyclopaedia entry from 1875.	July 26, 2011
Aqueducts	another encyclopaedia entry which has links to information on the cement used to line the aqueducts.	July 26, 2011
Astronomy	a book-on-the-Web by David Stern	July 26, 2011
Astronomy	Comets and meteors (but look around at the other links!)	September 2, 2011
Astronomy	excellent work from Ian Musgrave, an Australian scientist who has astronomy as his hobby.	July 26, 2011
Astronomy	how to make a cross-staff.	July 26, 2011
Astronomy	the plan for a telescope in Antarctica makes more sense than you may think!	July 26, 2011
Astronomy	The solar system (but look around at the other links!)	September 2, 2011
Atoms and molecules	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 26, 2011
Australian fossils	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	July 26, 2011
Australian science history links	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	July 26, 2011
Bacterial sampling in rivers and lakes	a useful guide from Massachusetts.	July 26, 2011
Barometer	a barometer museum.	July 26, 2011
Barometer	a home-brew barometer, in more senses than one.	July 26, 2011
Beach pebbles	about Rocky Bay, a sand pebble beach in New Zealand.	July 26, 2011
Beach pebbles	beach pebbles at Chesil Beach, England. See? It's not just a novel!	July 26, 2011
Beach pebbles	sand pebble beaches on Kythera, an excellent research site (well, we can dream, can't we?).	July 26, 2011
Beach pebbles	some ideas for the study of pebbles and sand.	July 26, 2011
Beach pebbles	some information on Pebble Beach, California.	Failed, July 26, 2011
Beetles of Australia	an ABC discussion and guide to some of the fanciest beetles.	July 26, 2011
Benham disc	making a Benham's disc.	July 26, 2011
Benham disc	the Exploratorium's account of Benham's disc.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	a British view.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	a South African view from the Iziko Museums of Capetown: a number of good links and case studies.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	a USGS site with links — excellent value.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	biodiversity hotspots.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	the Australian government's thoughts on biodiversity with lots of links.	July 26, 2011
Biodiversity	the New Zealand government's thoughts on biodiversity but you need to use the links.	July 26, 2011
Biological control	copepods eat mosquito larvae.	July 26, 2011
Biological control	the Australian leaders in biological control: weak on information, a few good links: look for the link to feral.org.au which makes it worthwhile.	July 26, 2011
Biological control	the Biological Control Virtual Information Center of the US National Science Foundation.	July 26, 2011
Biomes of the world	a good account. If you follow the links.	July 26, 2011
Biomes of the world	incomplete, but the finished bits are good on detail.	July 26, 2011
Bird song links	sites around the world with bird songs. See also 'dawn chorus'.	July 26, 2011
Bogong moths	These moths migrate up to a thousand km to find somewhere cool for the summer, when to go to aestivate in the Snowy Mountains.	July 26, 2011
Boiling point	specific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.	July 26, 2011
Breaking strain.	a poem by Rudyard Kipling.	July 26, 2011
Bridges	a How Stuff Works page on bridges.	July 26, 2011
Bridges	bridge disaster links.	Failed July 26, 2011
Bridges	modern bridge designs.	July 26, 2011
Brumbies	a conservationist viewpoint.	July 26, 2011
Brumbies	a Parliamentary speech from NSW.	July 26, 2011
Brumbies	some background on brumbies, a few links.	July 26, 2011
Bubbles	all about bubbles from the Exploratorium.	July 26, 2011
Bubbles	bubbles links.	July 26, 2011
Bubbles	the bubbularium from the Exploratorium: all about the colours in bubbles: there may be an idea for you here!	July 26, 2011
Bushfire regeneration	photos and links.	July 26, 2011
Bushfire regeneration	the science of bushfires, with lots of links.	July 26, 2011
Bushfire regeneration	the statistics of bushfires.	July 26, 2011
Calorific value	specific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.	July 26, 2011
Camouflage in nature	a How Stuff Works page, with others following on: a good place to get ideas.	July 26, 2011
Camouflage in nature	a reassessment of the peppered moth case.	July 26, 2011
Camouflage in nature	adaptive coloration and camouflage.	July 26, 2011
Camouflage in nature	the case of the peppered moth.	July 26, 2011
Capillary effect	an explanation from the Madsci Network.	July 26, 2011
Capillary effect	capillary effects in industry: background.	July 26, 2011
Capillary effect	capillary effects in soil.	July 26, 2011
Chemistry	the manufacture of saltpetre in the 1860s	July 26, 2011
Chemistry links	useful links from people who aren't really in the scioence game, but the links are good	May 13, 2018
Chladni figures	A curious application of Chladni figures	July 26, 2011
Chladni figures	Another source for information	July 26, 2011
Chladni figures	How to make Chladni figures (brief)	July 26, 2011
Chladni figures	some explanation and a neat applet to explore variations.	July 26, 2011
Chromatography	some sensible and useful background, but it goes well beyond the beginner stage.	July 26, 2011
Chromatography	some simple paper chromatography investigations.	July 26, 2011
Circular motion	a good look at the relationship between simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	a How Stuff Works page on global warming.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	a USGS site with links - excellent value.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	New Zealand Climate Change Office, a site with many links.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	some background from experts.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change	July 26, 2011
Climate change	The Pew Center for Climate Change.	July 26, 2011
Climate change	World Glacier Monitoring Service.	July 29, 2011
Cloning	a How Stuff Works page on cloning.	July 26, 2011
Clouds	a basic view of the different types of cloud.	Failed July 26, 2011
Clouds	a good gallery of cloud types.	Failed July 26, 2011
Clouds	the basics of clouds from the BBC Weather service, which is always excellent.	July 26, 2011
Coal	how coal is formed: follow the links to learn more.	July 26, 2011
Coal	the history of coal mining in Cape Breton.	July 26, 2011
Coal	the National Coal Mining Museum in England.	July 26, 2011
Cockroaches	a cockroach in verse: Archy and Mehitabel.	July 26, 2011
Cockroaches	a good starting place, but most of the links are very technical, unlike Archy and Mehitabel.	July 26, 2011
Colours and colour vision	A good account of colours and colour phenomena, and more than one idea for an experiment. Look at Herschel's work on infrared, for starters!	July 26, 2011
Columnar jointing	a good image of columns, seen from below.	July 26, 2011
Columnar jointing	an experiment to simulate columnar jointing, using corn starch. You need to read it carefully.	July 26, 2011
Columnar jointing	Scottish geology: Staffa and Fingal's Cave. Poke around this site!	July 26, 2011
Computing	Georg Scheutz made a difference engine that worked. How hard would it be to make a replica?	July 26, 2011
Computing	John Wolff's Web Museum of calculators and other mathematical stuff. This is a neat Australian site.	July 26, 2011
Computing	There is some excellent stuff here. Look at the Heath Robinson Rube Goldberg Computer for one, but this is an excellent place to browse!	July 26, 2011
Conditioning	a good account of classical conditioning.	July 26, 2011
Conditioning	about operant conditioning.	July 26, 2011
Conditioning	animal behaviour online.	July 26, 2011
Conditioning	background on Pavlov, and a simulation game.	July 26, 2011
Conditioning	from Pavlov to the Skinner Box - has lots of good links to follow.	July 26, 2011
Conservation	Home page of the SA Dept of Environmental and Natural Resources.	August 6, 2011
Dawn chorus	a nifty bird identifier for Australian birds, from the ABC. Combine this with their database of bird calls.	July 26, 2011
Dawn chorus	a set of 125 Australian bird calls from the ABC, in Real Audio format. See also 'Birdsong links'. AND insects and mammals!	July 26, 2011
Dawn chorus	access to some MP3 recordings of a dawn chorus, and information on how it was done: brief but useful as a starting place.	July 26, 2011
Dawn chorus	the Backyard Birdwatch project from the ABC	July 26, 2011
Desertification	a South African viewpoint, covering the basics.	July 26, 2011
Desertification	the FAO viewpoint.	July 26, 2011
Desertification	the USGS viewpoint.	July 26, 2011
Dinosaurs	Dinodata	July 26, 2011
Dinosaurs	good dinosaur links.	July 26, 2011
Dinosaurs	the Ornithischia.	July 26, 2011
Dinosaurs	the Saurischia.	July 26, 2011
Disease	one of the best starting places: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).	July 26, 2011
DNA and genes	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 26, 2011
Dyes	getting a purple from lichens, but look at the links for more.	July 26, 2011
Earth shape	a review of flat earth literature.	July 26, 2011
Earth shape	the Earth's shape is changing!	July 26, 2011
Earthquakes	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	July 26, 2011
Earthquakes	a National Geographic site: the forces of nature.	July 26, 2011
Earthworms	earthworm anatomy.	July 26, 2011
Earthworms	earthworm background article.	Failed July 26, 2011
Earthworms	earthworm facts.	July 26, 2011
Earthworms	earthworm sites and books.	Failed July 26, 2011
Earthworms	links on dissecting (or not dissecting) earthworms and other invertebrates.	July 26, 2011
Earthworms	some earthworm links.	July 26, 2011
Electric motor	good explanation of an unusual design (Hall effect).	July 26, 2011
Electric motor	good explanation of an unusual design (reed switch).	July 26, 2011
Electric relay	links to some relay projects, originally in Italian but now translated: the circuit diagrams are OK	July 26, 2011
Electric relay	some technical background.	July 26, 2011
Electric relay	the story of Edward Davy, inventor of the electric relay.	July 26, 2011
Electricity	a potted history with useful links.	July 26, 2011
Electricity	information about early thermopiles.	July 26, 2011
Electrochemistry	a set of simple projects, worth exploring.	July 26, 2011
Electromagnetic radiation	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 26, 2011
Electronics projects	originally in Italian, English translations are now up: check the circuit diagrams.	July 26, 2011
Electrophoruses	how to make and use one.	July 26, 2011
Electrophoruses	the Exploratorium's account of the electrophorus and the Leyden jar as well.	July 26, 2011
Endangered species	a USGS site with links - excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Endangered species	about sharks in Australia.	July 29, 2011
Endangered species	should we eat kangaroo?	July 29, 2011
Endangered species	Tasmanian devils	July 29, 2011
Endangered species	the Corroboree frog of Australia.	July 29, 2011
Energy	a series of detailed lectures on energy conversion: approach with care.	July 29, 2011
Energy	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Environmental science questions	good answers to many simple questions.	July 29, 2011
Erosion	a USGS site with links: excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Estimating pi	a good introduction to pi (though he is too kind to Lazzerini, who definitely cheated!).	July 29, 2011
Estimating pi	a treatise on pi.	Failed July 29, 2011
Estimating pi	another Buffon's needle simulation: this one offers a Java applet.	July 29, 2011
Estimating pi	Project pi (very bandwidth intensive!)	July 29, 2011
Estimating pi	the Buffon's needle simulation. Wants Java permission.	July 29, 2011
Evaporative cooling	an unusual application of evaporative cooling in modern physics. See also the Coolgardie safe entries.	July 29, 2011
Evaporative cooling	evaporative cooling in leaves.	July 29, 2011
Evaporative cooling	the wind chill factor.	July 29, 2011
Evolution	How Darwin is misunderstood: essay.	July 29, 2011
Evolution	Understanding evolution.	July 29, 2011
Exoplanets	planets beyond our solar system.	July 29, 2011
Expansion	another guide to measuring the linear coefficient of expansion.	July 29, 2011
Expansion	from Eric Weisstein's encyclopaedia, a good but no-holds-barred account of the technicalities.	July 29, 2011
Faults and earthquakes	A useful set of diagrams and pictures.	July 29, 2011
Feral animals	an Australian government source: explore the other choices from this page!	July 29, 2011
Ferns	another useful set of fern links.	Failed July 29, 2011
Ferns	Australian ferns and their cultivation.	July 29, 2011
Ferns	bracken fern is dangerous: take note!	Failed July 29, 2011
Ferns	fern links.	July 29, 2011
Ferns	links for fern maniacs -- well, that's what it says!	July 29, 2011
Ferns	more good information on ferns.	July 29, 2011
Ferns	some good background on ferns.	July 29, 2011
Ferns	some technical background on the ferns and their allies.	July 29, 2011
Fibonacci series	a life of Fibonacci.	July 29, 2011
Fibonacci series	the Fibonacci numbers, the Golden section and the Golden string.	July 29, 2011
Fibonacci series	the Fibonacci series and music.	July 29, 2011
Fish stocks	a USGS site with links - excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Fossil links	some fossil links: you need to burrow down to find out what else is here.	July 29, 2011
Fossil preparation	a commercial supplier of trilobites in Oklahoma outlines the way that a fossil should be prepared.	July 29, 2011
Fossil preparation	the art of preparing a fossil at home.	July 29, 2011
Fossil preparation	the art of preparing a fossil.	July 29, 2011
Fossil preparation	the Why Files give a neat view on the methods of fossil preparation.	July 29, 2011
Fusion point	specific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.	July 29, 2011
Genomics	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Geomorphology, structural geology and sedimentary geology	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	July 29, 2011
Glass harmonica	a short article and illustration.	July 29, 2011
Glass harmonica	Ben Franklin's harmonica.	July 29, 2011
Global warming and health	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Ground water	a USGS site with links — excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Ground water	capillary effects in soil.	July 29, 2011
Hall effect	an unusual application.	July 29, 2011
Hall effect	explanation and definition.	July 29, 2011
Hazardous materials	this will give you good places to go to get Materials Safety Data Sheets.	July 29, 2011
Heart and circulation	a good brief account from the Franklin Institute, but see the links for more.	July 29, 2011
Heart and circulation	a reasonably simple account of the human blood circulation.	July 29, 2011
Heart and circulation	a very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.	July 29, 2011
Heart and circulation	an excellent set of links on blood and circulation.	July 29, 2011
Heart and circulation	an excellent set of links, though you will need to drill down. The anatomy page, for example, has many excellent illustrations.	July 29, 2011
Human evolution	humans, hobbits and Neandertals: background.	July 29, 2011
Hygiene	a very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.	July 29, 2011
Hypnosis	a How Stuff Works page on hypnosis.	July 29, 2011
Images	a Dutch museum of scientific instruments in Leiden (nice place to visit!)	July 29, 2011
Images	pictures of scientists from many fields.	July 29, 2011
Immune system	how Edward Jenner developed inoculation.	July 29, 2011
Immune system	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Insect trapping	a commercial site with useful background.	July 29, 2011
Insect trapping	information on the use of pheromone lures.	July 29, 2011
Insect trapping	some useful background material from Florida.	July 29, 2011
Insect wings	some basic details and definitions.	July 29, 2011
Insect wings	using wing venation in bees.	July 29, 2011
Integrated pest management	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Interferometer	some background on interferometers.	July 29, 2011
Interferometer	the Very Large Telescope Interferometer.	July 29, 2011
Invasive species	a South African view.	July 29, 2011
Invasive species	a USGS site with links -- excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Invasive species	an official Australian government portal.	July 29, 2011
Invasive species	an official US government portal.	July 29, 2011
Invasive species	USDA National Agricultural Library site.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	A good story, but if you read nothing else, note the safety warning at the top.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	a method of assessing potentially revolutionary contributions to physics that you think may be crackpottery.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	a review of flat earth literature.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	curious: the DHMO story.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	debunking the paranormal: lots of links.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	some of the urban myths of science.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	the Bad Science site.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	the Encyclopedia of Psychology: pseudoscience: good links.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	the home page of Victor Stenger, with interesting links, but most of them heavy going.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	the Museum of Unworkable Devices.	July 29, 2011
Junk science	This page is called physics abused. Read it and see why.	July 29, 2011
Kites	there used to be a good box kite design, ready to make, but it seems to be gone-poke around the About Kites and Kiting Links tabs.	July 29, 2011
Kits	this site has lots of neat kits, though some may be unsafe or unsuitable: check first!	July 29, 2011
Knots, breaking strain.	handy material, how to tie the knots.	July 29, 2011
Latin squares	this is the home of EDGAR, a really neat program for generating Latin squares.	July 29, 2011
Leyden jars	a good guide to making a Leyden jar: some of the links don't work.	July 29, 2011
Leyden jars	a museum of old electrical apparatus, with pictures of Leyden jars and some history.	July 29, 2011
Leyden jars	how to charge a Leyden jar: see the link to a dissectible Leyden jar	July 29, 2011
Lichens	background and definitions	July 29, 2011
Lichens	links relating to lichens.	July 29, 2011
Lichens	North American lichens, and a photo gallery: may be useful elsewhere. Think of it as a model to make your own gallery.	July 29, 2011
Lichens	what a lichen is, different types.	July 29, 2011
Lightning	Electrostatic Discharges (ESD).	July 29, 2011
Lightning	preventing ESD. (What's ESD? Read on!)	July 29, 2011
Links	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material: you need to drill down in this one!	July 29, 2011
Links	an excellent set of links on science fairs.	July 29, 2011
Links	science forums, periodicals and programs.	July 29, 2011
Links	science resources: make sure you drill down through some of the links.	July 29, 2011
Links	the Exploratorium's Ten Cool Sites page: look out for the archives link on the left, because there are HEAPS of other sites listed here.	July 29, 2011
Links	the Gateway to Educational Materials (I happen to be a consortium member): use this US government portal to search for stuff that has been carefully selected.	July 29, 2011
Links	the main entry point for How Stuff Works.	July 29, 2011
Links	the Seed Laboratory	July 29, 2011
Links	this has a number of links I already have, but it has even more that I don't..	July 29, 2011
Living fossils	the Wollemi pine.	July 29, 2011
Mantids	keeping mantids fact sheet from an English zoo.	July 29, 2011
Mantids	the care of mantids, has some links.	July 29, 2011
Mathematical amusements	some unusual bits and pieces of mathematics, well worth digging into.	July 29, 2011
Medical history	A good general account. Link passed on by Courtney Riem. Go to the various tabs.	July 29, 2011
Medicine, history	a great Indian site to explore	July 29, 2011
Microscopy	an excellent set of sources on the history of optics.	July 29, 2011
Microscopy	how to use the microscope.	July 29, 2011
Microscopy	the virtual microscopy library.	July 29, 2011
Moon phases	a neat lunar calendar: find out when that next full moon will be, or its phase, the day you were born (I was a new moon baby). Uses Java.	July 29, 2011
Mosquito culture	growing a variety of small invertebrates, emphasis on using them as fish food.	July 29, 2011
Museums	links to science centres and organisations.	July 29, 2011
Museums	the American Museum of Natural History.	July 29, 2011
Museums	the Exploratorium in San Francisco, one of my favourite places.	July 29, 2011
Museums	the National Museum of Australia.	July 29, 2011
Museums	the Questacon site in Canberra, a bit heavy on bandwidth.	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian Museum, Sydney: earth sciences	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian Museum, Sydney: invertebrates	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian Museum, Sydney: vertebrates	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra:Australian botanic gardens	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra:Australia's Virtual Herbarium	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra:Botanical Resource Centre	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra:Databases of Australian plants	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra:Information about Australian plants	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Collections and research, W. A. Museum.	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Links to many more natural history museums	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Museum Victoria, Melbourne:Discovery Centre	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Pseudoscorpions of the world	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Home page	July 29, 2011
Natural History	Western Australian Museum: Collections	July 29, 2011
Newtonian mechanics	a book-on-the-Web by David Stern	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	an essay favouring nuclear power.	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	from How Stuff Works: an explanation.	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	news stories with a pro-nuclear slant.	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	the future of nuclear power, as seen by MIT.	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	the Greenpeace organisation opposes nuclear power.	July 29, 2011
Nuclear power	the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency has some good links.	July 29, 2011
Oil viscosity	another background piece	July 29, 2011
Oil viscosity	excellent background on automotive oils.	July 29, 2011
Oil viscosity	interpreting automotive oil viscosity numbers.	July 29, 2011
Optical illusions	a good set of links.	July 29, 2011
Optical illusions	a quick run-down from one of the world experts, Richard L. Gregory.	July 29, 2011
Optical illusions	a set of curious Japanese illusions.	July 29, 2011
Optical illusions	some mediocre but different illusions on the main page, but check the links on the left, and ignore their nonsense about colour blindness, because the author doesn't know what he/she is talking about. (I'm colour blind!)	July 29, 2011
Optical illusions	this has some good copies of the standard ones.	July 29, 2011
Optics	an excellent set of sources on the history of optics.	July 29, 2011
Orrery	a Java applet that simulates an orrery is one of the links from this page.	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	American Museum of Natural History	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Natural History Museum Vienna	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Natural History Museum, London	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Oxford University Museum of Natural History	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge	July 29, 2011
Overseas natural history museum worth a visit	Smithsonian Museum of Natural History	July 29, 2011
Paper planes	a set of links.	July 29, 2011
Parachutes	notes for making parachutes: check the links.	July 29, 2011
Pascal's triangle	a guide for teachers that may give you some hints.	July 29, 2011
Pascal's triangle	background information.	July 29, 2011
Pascal's triangle	generating Pascal's triangle in a spreadsheet.	July 29, 2011
Pendulum clock stuff	a clock hobbyist's view of the pendulum. See also timing devices.	July 29, 2011
Periscope	a design from the Exploratorium.	July 29, 2011
Periscope	Page has a picture of William Beech with his periscope rifle.	July 29, 2011
Periscope	the invention of the periscope.	July 29, 2011
Periscope	the periscope rifle.	July 29, 2011
Perpetual motion	an amusing background piece.	July 29, 2011
Perpetual motion	the Museum of Unworkable Devices.	July 29, 2011
Petroleum	the museum that commemorates Drake's first oil well in Pennsylvania.	July 29, 2011
Phenomics	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Physics information	this is Eric Weisstein's encyclopaedia of physics, an excellent resource.	July 29, 2011
Physics links	another excellent page from Donald Simanek.	July 29, 2011
Platypuses	Australian egg-laying mammals.	July 29, 2011
Plimsoll line	encyclopaedia entry with picture.	July 29, 2011
Plimsoll line	history behind the Plimsoll line.	July 29, 2011
Poetry	a cockroach in verse - Archy and Mehitabel.	July 29, 2011
Poetry	an engineering poem.	July 29, 2011
Pollution	a USGS site with links - excellent value.	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	amateur science sites: give this a try!	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	an excellent set of links - as the front page calls them, science gems, all sorted by age suitability. Get in here and burrow!	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	buy the 'Scientific American' Amateur Scientist CD-ROM here (or get your librarian to look - this is a brilliant resource!).	Failed July 29, 2011
Pot luck	Donald Simanek's scrapbooks.	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	physics toys from the incomparable Donald Simanek.	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	some interesting home experiments: the site is a bit cumbersome, but worth persevering with.	July 29, 2011
Pot luck	the Access Excellence Classic Collection, a set of essay/tutorials.	July 29, 2011
Pressing plants	a more detailed account of how to prepare and mount plant specimens for a herbarium: this is the best!	July 29, 2011
Pressing plants	how to collect and press seaweeds.	July 29, 2011
Properties of metals	thermal conductivity and other properties of metals.	July 29, 2011
Proteomics	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	July 29, 2011
Radio history	the apparatus used by Hertz in 1888.	July 29, 2011
Radio history	designs for spark transmitters. WARNING: these are illegal in most countries because they broadcast on all frequencies and cause interference.	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	a lesson on rainbows and their causes.	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	a Mad Scientist view: rainbows and cubic droplets.	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	build a rainbow	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	rainbow links.	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	the mathematics of rainbows.	July 29, 2011
Rainbows	the physics of a rainbow: Java applet, needs Java, OK but not brilliant. Some useful links.	July 29, 2011
References	this is Project Gutenberg, a great place to find older books.	July 29, 2011
Rock collecting	a useful set of links.	July 29, 2011
Safety	this will give you good places to go to get Materials Safety Data Sheets.	August 6, 2011
Sand particles	some ideas for the study of sand particles.	August 6, 2011
Science humour	molecules with amusing names. You can even find me among the contributors.	August 6, 2011
Science news	a science news site called 'Science News for Kids'.	August 6, 2011
Science news	a US government science portal.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Eurekalert is sponsored by AAAS, and offers news releases. You don't need to log in to use it.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Nature, a world journal published in Britain.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Popular Science magazine.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Science Daily.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Science News Online.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Science, a world journal published in the USA.	August 6, 2011
Science news	Scientific American, a world journal published in the USA.	August 6, 2011
Science news	the Newswise Science News site: this is the best, especially when you begin searching by keywords.	August 6, 2011
Science News (old)	browse or search this journal from 1846 to 1869: almost every page. Discover thumbnail views or master the search functions.	August 6, 2011
Science projects	a good question, which they answer very well: what is a science project?	August 6, 2011
Science projects	a handy guide with useful links.	August 6, 2011
Science projects	project ideas: the companion page to this page.	August 6, 2011
Scientific fraud	a case study of faked data from 1819.	August 6, 2011
Scientific fraud	a case study of people being duped.	August 6, 2011
Scientific fraud	a different take on Intelligent Design.	August 6, 2011
Scientific method	the seven types of science: the text of two radio talks, showing that there is more than one sort of thing called science.	August 6, 2011
Sediment in rivers	a Bulgarian sediment study, in English.	August 6, 2011
Sediment in rivers	some good background on simple sampling methods from the FAO, with pictures and diagrams: essential reading.	August 6, 2011
Sediment in rivers	this deals with the Colorado River: look in particular at the second link (overview), but many of the links are worth chasing.	Failed August 6, 2011
Sediment in rivers	using acoustic sampling: this is too advanced, but skim it to find out how real scientists do it!	August 6, 2011
Seed viability	a good explanation.	August 6, 2011
Sensitive plants	about Mimosa pigra.	August 6, 2011
Sensitive plants	about Mimosa pudica.	August 6, 2011
Sensitive plants	the carnivorous plants FAQ.	August 6, 2011
Simple machines	all about the block and tackle.	August 6, 2011
Simple machines	excellent links, list of terms.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	a serious study of factors influencing snail speed: this is not easy reading, but go to the PDF (needs Acrobat) and give it a try.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	another serious study on snail locomotion.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	some background on apple snails.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	some mollusc links from the Australian Museum.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	some mollusc links from the University of Melbourne.	August 6, 2011
Snail locomotion	some snail information and links.	August 6, 2011
Soil salinity	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Soil salinity	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Soil salinity	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Soil water	calibrating soil water measurement devices: skim this for background.	August 6, 2011
Soil water	soil water monitoring and measurement: fairly technical.	August 6, 2011
Solar cells	a German site showing how solar cells work.	August 6, 2011
Solar cells	an Australian company selling commercial products.	August 6, 2011
Solar cells	making a solar cell in your kitchen: full instructions.	August 6, 2011
Solar heating	a commercial site which explains the benefits of solar heating, with a few links.	August 6, 2011
Solar heating	a set of neat designs for solar cookers in different languages. I liked the 'Fresnel' design.	August 6, 2011
Solar heating	a useful set of links to chase.	August 6, 2011
Solar heating	the Solar Oven Society: information and a few links.	August 6, 2011
Solar system	a solar system coloring book - think of this as a source for your own pictures.	August 6, 2011
Solar system	how to get the right scales to build a model: needs Javascript enabled.	August 6, 2011
Solar system	links from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Solar system	Nine Planets: this is THE place to start!	August 6, 2011
Solar system	planets beyond our solar system.	August 6, 2011
Solar system simulator	a simulator from NASA.	August 6, 2011
Space history	Doug Rickard was an Australian scientist who was involved in the early days of space tracking. He had many hair-raising tales to tell: these are just a few of them.	August 6, 2011
Space history	the first successful firing of a scramjet engine: and it was an Australian engine!	August 6, 2011
Space travel	a site for younger users	August 6, 2011
Space travel	a translation of Noordung's The Problem of Space Travel.	August 6, 2011
Space travel	how humans dream of going into space.	August 6, 2011
Space flight and spacecraft	a book-on-the-Web by David Stern	August 6, 2011
Specific heat	specific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials. See also properties of metals.	August 6, 2011
Specific weight	specific heat, specific weight, fusion point, boiling point and calorific value for many materials.	August 6, 2011
Spiders	keeping Singapore spiders.	August 6, 2011
Spiders	some background on spiders.	August 6, 2011
Spiders	spider page with several useful pages coming off it.	August 6, 2011
Star maps	another site with some handy links.	August 6, 2011
Star maps	print off a star map for your own sky.	August 6, 2011
Star maps	some information about constellations.	August 6, 2011
Statistics	a neat little replacement for a dead link, sent to me by a reader. Thanks, Ashley!	August 6, 2011
Statistics	about significant figures.	August 6, 2011
Statistics	all about Student's t-test, including a neat little system to compare two sets of data and compare the null hypothesis that there is no difference between two samples	August 6, 2011
Statistics	another page that offers excellent online help in doing statistical tests.	August 6, 2011
Statistics	can you trust statistics? Examples of dopey correlations.	August 6, 2011
Stem cells	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Stone tools	a useful introductory article with a number of links.	August 6, 2011
Stone tools	pictures of some American examples.	August 6, 2011
Stone tools	some useful background.	August 6, 2011
Stream sampling and other FAQs	Lots of topics to fish through, from a commercial equipment supplier.	August 6, 2011
Sun	a book-on-the-Web by David Stern	August 6, 2011
Sundials	An excellent site: includes a freeware sundial design program and many links. See also timing devices.	August 6, 2011
Technology news	about word recognition.	August 6, 2011
Technology news	Popular Science magazine.	August 6, 2011
Telegraphy	a history of the telegraph: sketchy on early attempts, but good on the later stages.	August 6, 2011
Telegraphy	A potted history about telegraphy and Edward Davy, the pioneer who migrated to Australia.	August 6, 2011
Telegraphy	a slightly peculiar history of the telephone, covering much of the telegraph in passing: worth putting up with the hopeless layout.	August 6, 2011
Telegraphy	the text of 'Heroes of the Telegraph' by John Munro, a download from Project Gutenberg.	August 6, 2011
Telegraphy	the Wheatstone two-needle telegraph.	August 6, 2011
Telescope basics	a good encyclopaedia entry.	August 6, 2011
Telescope basics	an excellent set of sources on the history of optics.	August 6, 2011
Telescope basics	some historical background from the University of Hawaii (they have just a few telescopes there!).	August 6, 2011
Telescope basics	this is from a commercial supplier, but will give you good coverage.	August 6, 2011
Telescope links	the Southern Skywatch page from Ian Musgrave, an all-round Good Bloke: this page has many links and is also essential reading. See also Astronomy 1	August 6, 2011
Telescopes	colour pictures from the AAT.	August 6, 2011
Telescopes	modern telescopes: follow the links.	August 6, 2011
Telescopes	the Anglo-Australian Telescope.	August 6, 2011
Terrarium	A simple version. Ignore the ads, go forward and then go back.	August 6, 2011
Terrarium	a terrarium in a bottle.	August 6, 2011
Theremins	a handy introduction with some links.	Failed August 6, 2011
Theremins	more theremin links.	August 6, 2011
Thin rock sections	a quick introduction to thin sections with some useful links.	August 6, 2011
Thin rock sections	making thin sections by hand.	August 6, 2011
Thin rock sections	some selected images of rock sections.	August 6, 2011
Time sense	a system for testing time estimation that does not work all that well: can you make a better one? (Needs Java)	August 6, 2011
Time sense	an odd side-issue that may be worth chasing (or may not - I just chanced on this).	August 6, 2011
Time sense	another page that offers some ideas on how to set up your experiment. (Note that you are supposed to ask for a log-in code to actually use it, but ignore that.)	Failed August 6, 2011
Timing devices	some unusual designs, but rather technical.	August 6, 2011
Timing devices	some useful history, but check the pages before and after.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	a highly technical account of the torsion pendulum.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	about Henry Cavendish, with advice on repeating his experiment and good links.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	about Maskelyne, Cavendish and Boys.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	an account of the Coulomb balance.	Failed August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	an excellent description of the physics of the pendulum and its setup.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	the Coulomb balance: an account notable only for a legal disclaimer that is longer than the instructions.	August 6, 2011
Torsion pendulum	the Michell-Cavendish experiment.	August 6, 2011
Tsunamis	a University of Washington site.	August 6, 2011
Tsunamis	a USGS site with links: excellent value.	August 6, 2011
Tsunamis	from NOVA at the Australian Academy of Science: always a good starting point.	August 6, 2011
Tsunamis	some background from experts.	August 6, 2011
Ultraviolet detectors	making a detector (needs electronics skills).	August 6, 2011
Vaccines	a very neat tutorial on the basics, with some useful links to follow.	August 6, 2011
Venerable wombat	a pointer back to the origins of this page.	August 6, 2011
Viscosity	good background.	August 6, 2011
Viscosity	how to measure viscosity.	August 6, 2011
Volcanoes	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	August 6, 2011
Volcanoes	a National Geographic site: the forces of nature.	August 6, 2011
Volcanoes	a useful USGS site with links.	August 6, 2011
Volcanoes	glossary of volcano terms. See also columnar jointing.	August 6, 2011
Water	curious: ABOUT DHMO.	August 6, 2011
Water clock	some useful history, but see also the pages before and after.	August 6, 2011
Water pollution	some background and useful links.	August 6, 2011
Water pollution	some USGS background and links in eutrophication.	August 6, 2011
Water quality	a USGS site with links: excellent value.	August 6, 2011
Water resources, marine and coastal geology	a links site from the University of Adelaide with excellent material.	August 6, 2011
Water salinity	a South Australian view of Murray salinity problems: check the links on the left.	August 6, 2011
Water salinity	salinity in the Murray-Darling basin: map and links.	August 6, 2011
Water salinity	some CSIRO salinity research.	August 6, 2011
Water wheel	a chaotic water wheel: this is seriously advanced, but looks like fun: note that there are other pages on this topic, so do a search.	August 6, 2011
Water wheel	a water wheel project, though this one seems more decorative than useful.	August 6, 2011
Wattles in winter	why do some Acacias bloom in winter in Australia?	August 6, 2011
Weather, extreme	a National Geographic site: the forces of nature.	August 6, 2011
Wind vane	A simple model.	August 6, 2011
Wind vane	Using a wind vane in wind power generation.	August 6, 2011
Zircon extraction.	some methods of extracting zircons and zirconia.	August 6, 2011
Zoetrope	a commercial site with useful information.	August 6, 2011
Zoetrope	background about zoetropes, and links to more information.	August 6, 2011
Zoetrope	how to make a zoetrope, with a link to all the bits you need to print.	August 6, 2011
Zoetrope	links to animation-related pages.	August 6, 2011

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