Virtual physics lab for circuits and electronics
DCACLab is a virtual circuit lab that runs in a web browser. Students build circuits from components on screen and measure them with virtual instruments, as they would at a lab bench.
What is a virtual physics lab?
A virtual lab is a simulation of lab equipment. Instead of a box of parts and a bench meter, students place components on screen, connect them with wires and read voltages and currents from simulated instruments. The simulator works out how the circuit behaves from the values of its parts.
For electricity and electronics, that means students can build a circuit, change one value and measure what changed, and a wrong connection damages no real parts. It does not replace handling real parts, but the whole class can run the same experiment, at school or at home.
What students can do in DCACLab
Students build and measure with:
- Sources, resistors, capacitors, inductors and potentiometers
- Diodes, LEDs, bipolar transistors and MOSFETs
- Operational amplifiers, transformers, relays and switches
- Logic gates and integrated circuits
- Digital and analog multimeters, an oscilloscope and a wattmeter
- A breadboard mode, for placing parts and jumper wires as on a real breadboard
- An IC Creator for making your own integrated circuits (not included in the Starter plan)
- Saving and sharing circuits, with a plan or as part of a class. Without a plan the lab is a limited demo: saving needs an active plan, and a circuit can have at most two components of each type.
Lab activities
Ready-to-use worksheets, each built on a working circuit, with steps, a data table, questions and an answer key.
Breadboard simulator
Build circuits on a virtual breadboard: place parts and jumper wires, then measure them with a multimeter and an oscilloscope.
For teachers
Create a classroom, share its join link, assign a circuit with a due date and grade what your students hand in.
Coming from another tool?
What each tool does, side by side with DCACLab:
How to try DCACLab
For students
Create an account and open the lab in your web browser. Without a plan the lab is a limited demo: saving needs an active plan, and a circuit can have at most two components of each type.
Teaching with circuits?
Create a classroom, give your students this lab, and review what they submit. The free classroom demo gives you one classroom with room for 30 students for 7 days, counted from when your first student joins (once per teacher); after that it keeps up to 5 students.
Try the free classroom demoFrequently asked questions
Is a virtual lab the same as a real lab?
No. A virtual lab simulates the circuit and the instruments. It is a place to practise building and measuring, to try ideas safely and to prepare for work with real parts.
Do students need to install anything?
No. DCACLab runs in a web browser.
Is DCACLab free?
Without a plan the lab is a limited demo: saving needs an active plan, and a circuit can have at most two components of each type. Teachers can also try the classroom demo: one classroom with room for 30 students for 7 days, counted from when the first student joins (once per teacher); after that it keeps up to 5 students.
Can I use it with my class?
Yes. Create a classroom, share its join link with your students, and assign a circuit for them to work on.
Does it cover all of physics?
No. The lab covers circuits and electronics: DC and AC circuits, their components and the instruments to measure them. It does not cover other physics topics such as mechanics or optics.
PhET is a trademark of the Regents of the University of Colorado. Tinkercad is a trademark of Autodesk, Inc. Multisim is a trademark of National Instruments (NI), now part of Emerson. Proteus is a product of Labcenter Electronics Ltd. DCACLab is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by the University of Colorado, PhET Interactive Simulations, Autodesk, Inc., National Instruments (NI), Emerson or Labcenter Electronics Ltd.