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PlayOwl

Explore · Wonder · Discover

How Things Work

Ever wondered how airplanes fly, why popcorn pops or how your heart pumps? Pick a question, then watch it, look inside, try it, solve a challenge and go deeper. Every topic changes for Preschool, Elementary and Middle school.

  1. 1Watch it
  2. 2Look inside
  3. 3Try it
  4. 4Solve a challenge
  5. 5Go deeper

500 topics to explore · showing 433–456

Every topic

#433 Light & sound How do colored lights combine? Overlap red, green, and blue beams to create different colors. #434 Light & sound How do color filters change what we see? Place filters over lights and objects and compare transmitted colors. #435 Light & sound How do glow-in-the-dark materials work? Charge a model material with light and follow its delayed light emission. #436 Light & sound How does sound travel? Follow vibrations through air, water, and solids using animated particles. #437 Light & sound How do echoes happen? Send sound toward different surfaces and compare the returning sound and delay. #438 Light & sound How do guitar strings create different notes? Change string length, tension, and thickness and compare vibrations and pitch. #439 Light & sound How does a piano make music? Follow a key press through a hammer, string, damper, and soundboard. #440 Light & sound How do flutes produce different notes? Open and close holes and explore changing vibrations in an air column. #441 Light & sound How do drums make different sounds? Change membrane tension and drum size and compare vibration patterns. #442 Light & sound How does soundproofing reduce noise? Compare absorption, barriers, and gaps around a model noisy room. #443 Light & sound How do noise-canceling headphones work? Combine a noise waveform with an opposing signal in a simplified model. #444 Light & sound Why does a passing siren change pitch? Move a virtual sound source past a listener and inspect wave spacing. #445 Light & sound How does resonance make vibrations stronger? Drive a model oscillator at different rhythms and compare its response. #446 Earth & weather How do snowflakes form? Grow virtual ice crystals under different conditions and compare their branching patterns. #447 Earth & weather How do hailstones grow? Follow an ice particle through a storm and watch additional layers accumulate. #448 Earth & weather How does fog form near the ground? Change air temperature and moisture and watch tiny droplets appear. #449 Earth & weather How does dew appear on grass? Cool a model surface and follow water vapor condensing into droplets. #450 Earth & weather How does frost form? Explore ice crystals growing on a cold surface from water vapor. #451 Earth & weather How do hurricanes develop? Explore warm ocean water, moisture, rotation, and storm organization in a simplified model. #452 Earth & weather How do weather forecasts get made? Combine station readings, radar, satellite images, and a simplified forecast model. #453 Earth & weather How do weather fronts change the weather? Move warm and cold air masses together and observe clouds and precipitation. #454 Earth & weather How do mountains create rain shadows? Guide moist air over a mountain and compare its windward and sheltered sides. #455 Earth & weather How does lake-effect snow happen? Move cold air across warmer lake water and follow moisture into snowfall. #456 Earth & weather How does humidity affect the air around us? Change temperature and water vapor and explore relative humidity and condensation.

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