How the Physical World Works
Like Duolingo, but for How the Physical World Works. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
27 levels across 4 sections, about 54 minutes end to end, roughly 11 days at five minutes a day. It moves through The Rules of Motion, Energy and Heat, Waves and Light, and Electricity and Matter. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How the Physical World Works
- Inertia keeps objects moving at a constant speed in a straight line
- A change in direction requires a force
- Objects do not naturally 'tire out' or slow down without an external force
- A change in speed requires a force
- Rest and constant motion are both states that inertia maintains
- Forces are the only way to overcome an object's inertia
- Understanding that objects maintain their current state without external interference
- Identifying a force as the cause of a change in motion
- Mass is the amount of matter in an object
- Friction occurs when two surfaces rub together
- Inertia keeps objects moving
- Higher mass creates more resistance to changes in motion
- Friction always acts in the opposite direction of the intended movement
- Forces cause changes in motion
- Force requirements scale directly with the mass of the object
- Rougher surfaces create more friction than smooth ones
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How the Physical World Works the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
A marble is rolling straight. If it suddenly turns to the right, what must have been applied to it?
Get it right to open this lesson and 26 more in the app.
Where How the Physical World Works takes you
Discover the hidden rules that govern everything from a falling apple to the stars in the sky. Learn to see the forces, energy, and waves that shape your daily life.
- 1
The Rules of Motion
- The First Push
- Falling and Gravity
- Action and Reaction
- 2
Energy and Heat
- The Two Faces of Energy
- Heat and Microscopic Motion
- 3
Waves and Light
- Vibrations and Sound
- The Nature of Light
- 4
Electricity and Matter
- Electricity and Circuits
- Atoms and Density
4 sections · 9 units · 27 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
How the Physical World Works is taught in the The Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Science on Tomo
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Physics: Motion, Energy, and Waves
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The Laws of the Universe
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How Matter Works: The Foundations of Chemistry
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The Physics of Your Senses
Discover how your brain translates the raw forces of the universe—like light waves and gravity—into the world you actually experience.
Start How the Physical World Works today.
Download Tomo, search How the Physical World Works, and play your first lesson in under a minute.