Our project originally focused on physics sims, and was hence named the *Ph*ysics *E*ducation *T*echnology project, or *PhET*. When we branched into chemistry, biology, mathematics and other areas, we decided to keep the name *PhET*, but to no longer describe it as an acronym.
We offer apps for both iOS and Android/Chromebook. Please see specific information by platform:
Chromebook
Android phone/tablet
iOS iPad/iPhone
All versions of our apps allow native, offline use of all of our HTML5 sims and proceeds fund more HTML5 sim development.
PhET partners with education technology companies and organizations to support the ongoing maintenance, development, and growth of the PhET simulation collection. As part of this model, all commercial use of PhET simulations requires a commercial license from the University of Colorado Boulder. Commercial licensing includes additional benefits and services to help organizations maximize the value and impact of the simulations.
Learn More About Partnerships
Any students or educators (K-12 and/or higher education; public and/or private) can use the simulations for free for any non-commercial purposes, including classroom use, homework, student projects, etc. You must appropriately attribute the simulations (see Attribution Requirements). You do not need to seek any further permissions from us.
You may share PhET simulations for non‑commercial educational use (see Attribution Requirements). However, commercial use on a blog, YouTube channel, Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT), or similar platform requires a separate commercial license.
Our Licensing page defines commercial use as any use that provides commercial advantage or monetary compensation. This includes, for example, ad‑supported websites, monetized YouTube channels, and paid resources on platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers.
If you’re an educator whose site or channel earns modest ad revenue, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We’re happy to work with educators who are genuinely focused on student learning, and our intent is not to penalize teachers. Our goal is to ensure that organizations and individuals profiting from PhET simulations at scale contribute back to the project.
Education research guides the design and classroom use of PhET simulations. Not only does the PhET team engage in education research directly, but we love to see PhET simulations being used by researchers worldwide to advance knowledge about teaching, learning, and assessment.
Researchers are encouraged to use PhET simulations in their work. No further permission is necessary to use the simulations in research, provided the research remains non-commercial, and these two steps are followed:
- Provide proper attribution (see Attribution Requirements) when a simulation or any derivative work appears in education materials, presentations, journal articles, websites, or other channels you may use to distribute your work.
- For each published article, please complete the PhET Use in Research form to share information about your publication with us.
Researchers interested in customizing simulations or collecting back-end data for use in learning engineering or learning analytics research may be interested in PhET’s interoperable (PhET-iO) simulations. Learn more about PhET-iO.
We are happy to accept new ideas and suggestions for improvements about existing simulations. Submit your ideas here!
Click the "Embed" button under the simulation you would like to embed. This will bring up a text box of html code that you can copy and paste in order to embed the sim. Flash sims may be directly embedded or linked via an image to launch the sim. Java sims may only be linked via an image to launch the sim.
Some LMS may require you to use "https://" for the URL of the simulation.
Yes! You can insert our HTML5 sims into a PowerPoint presentation using our Office Mix app
This add-in works in: PowerPoint 2013 Service Pack 1 or later, PowerPoint 2016 for Mac, PowerPoint 2016 or later, PowerPoint Online.
For information on getting Office Add-ins for Powerpoint, see this link.
PhET cares deeply about student privacy and we orient our website and resource practices to streamline student access without collection of student data.
Licensing details and the complete license agreements are available on our Licensing page.
Not all activities have answers. Some activity authors will share answer keys will fellow teachers - try emailing the author of the activity.
PhET Interactive Simulations is a nonprofit project based at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU). Our team of designers, researchers, educators, and developers is dedicated to producing high quality STEM resources. We rely upon our users to keep PhET free for everyone. Donations to PhET can be made electronically through Give Campus.
Alternatively, a check may be made out to "University of Colorado Foundation" with “Donate to PhET Interactive Simulations Project Fund D-0028990” included in the memo section. Please mail to:
University of CO Foundation
P.O. Box 17126
Denver CO 80217-9155
To make a donation via a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), use CU's EIN: 84-6000555. CU Tax 501(c)(3) Exempt Status Letter. Ensure “Donate to PhET Interactive Simulations Project Fund D-0028990” is included in the memo section so that your donation is properly routed to PhET.