The Physics Showdown! Which field of Physics do you like the most?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

This is going to be flame war!!!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

1. ...........

:popcorn:

[El Fuego]

2. In college, I liked the Einstein/relativity class the best

I will always have a soft spot for classic Newtonian physics though.

[Shell Beau]

3. I SUCK at Physics!!

I am more of a literature/composition-grammar person!!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

4. Even Physics people suck at Physics. They never sleep because

study all the time.

[rug]

5. The one that explains the bubbles in my soda.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

6. Classical/Newtonian.

[rug]

7. Thank you.

[ghostsofgiants]

8. ...

http://www.fantasyworldcostumes.com/images/Create-a-Pak,Nerd-761.jpg

[jpgray]

9. I love Classic/Newtonian

It all makes so much SENSE. But then I also love relativity, and other assorted physical weirdness.

[Angry Girl]

10. Erm, nonlinear dynamics isn't physics....

It's just one of the mathematical models used and it's used in many other fields. Sorry.

And while we're at it, THERMODYNAMICS RULZ!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

11. They are using it in Physics. Over the past ten years or so.

[Angry Girl]

12. Of course, they are, but it's NOT physics! It's MATH! n/t

[Crazy Guggenheim]

14. A lot of Physics is Applied Math. Anyways, people are getting

Physics PhD's in that field.

[Angry Girl]

15. I know, I'm almost became one of them. But it's still math, dammit! :-)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

17. Mathematical Physics?

[Angry Girl]

21. Theoretical thermo. *hiss* for the experimentalists! :-)

But I veered to mathematical modeling and operations research instead.
And ended up in computer systems.
And now I'm unemployed, so there! :-)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

22. You are what? It's not that bad is it? BTW, I took Numerical Analysis

and Mathematical Modeling. Fun stuff.

[IChing]

32. Yeah, but his mom took

a rigid body mechanics class because she wanted to meet hot guys.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

33. Hu hu hu hu hu hu! My pocket protector almost fell out!

:rofl:

[Angry Girl]

39. Ew! ew! ew! OK, here's one:

Might be urban legend....

The following is an actual question given on a University of
Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so
"profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the
Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of
enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
(absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law
(gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some
variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we
need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate
at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once
a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different
Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions
state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to
Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since
people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that
all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of
souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of
change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order
for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume
of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls
enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase
until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes
over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by the really cute girl in my
psychology class during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day
in Hell before I sleep with you, and take into account the fact that I
slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am
sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The
corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it
follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore,
extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a
divine being which explains why, last night, she kept shouting, "Oh my
God!"

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

[IChing]

40. That's awesome

Boyle's Law explained to the religious believers of heaven and hell.

Even if its an urban legion or not.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

41. It's been around for years. It may be an Urban Legend but it also

sounds like something a Physics Professor would do for laughs.

[Angry Girl]

42. I had a physics teacher who always had exams like that

The planet he used was Zog IV. He'd alter, say, Schrodinger's equation or some constant and we'd have to derive the consequences of that. Best teacher I ever had too!

[Crazy Guggenheim]

44. Do you remember the drummer from "Men at Work"? He now

teaches College Physics in Australia.

[Angry Girl]

45. Haha! No kidding!

And I'm now the drummer for Nightweed! Funny world.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

46. Who's Nightweed?

[Angry Girl]

47. My band! hehe

Here it is, in all it's miserable little glory:

http://www.nightweed.com

And no, this is not what I do for money. At least not for a lot of money.... :-)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

49. Cool! Have you shaved your head?

[Angry Girl]

59. Buzzed it.

I was a hiking guide in the Grand Canyon for a couple of years and long hair was just a pain. After I buzzed it, it was heaven! No more messing with it to look presentable and lots of savings on hair products!

995.... Ouch, what a procrastinator I've been! I probably should go get some real work done! Been fun chatting with ya!
:-)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

56. Did you know you are only six posts away from 1000?

[chknltl]

70. Angry Girl is also a great song,

I ghosted through here and tried your link. I liked a lot of your music. If you guys ever road-trip up to washington be sure to pit stop at: http://www.hellskitchenonline.com
I should be able to get a (paying) fan or two to come watch and I will throw a roll of my photography in fer free. (I may be retired from doing that but I still own my Nikon's and would dearly love to shoot a band with links to the DU.) Another resource is www.giantradio.com They get quite a few listeners, they host quite a few bands, they can be a useful tool should you decide to road-trip up this way.

[Angry Girl]

71. Thanks!

Gee, Washington's a definite possiblity. Nice place and nice folk there! We'll definitely keep you in mind! I'll check out Hell's Kitchen in the a.m. (dialup sucks...)
Later!

[IChing]

53. thanks CG for your scientific and historical perspective once again and

Your momma is weight is modeled by the summation of a diverging sequence

hey check out this thread today:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1826037&mesg_id=1826603

was he a freep or just a student?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

54. Unknown. But I have to read the whole thread.

[Angry Girl]

37. You read The Great Beyond by Halpern yet?

I just borrowed a copy from the library but haven't read it yet but it sounds like something you'd like. Anyone else read it?

And as far as the "it's not that bad, is it?" comment, you're not from around here, are you? :-)
http://www.awcorg.us/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=40
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0507170314jul17,1,7122890,print.story

Yup, unemployed for a few years now -- and probably unemployable by most due to any number of workplace violations! :-) But no worries, plans are in the works!

[Orsino]

55. Thermogoddamics

It's called that for a reason. I can't recommend taking it at 9:00 a.m., after an hour of differential equations and before an hour of electricity and magnetism. Goddess, what a semester!

[Orsino]

57. As one of only a couple of physics majors in a frat...

...of chem majors, I took a certain amount of ribbing. "How are you liking your Applied Math major?" one asked. I asked him how he liked his Applied Physics major. :-)

Nerd humor. But I won that exchange.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

58. Cool!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

13. Chaos rules.

--I'm a fractal artist, so I HAVE to say that... :rofl:

[Shakespeare]

16. Love me some string theory, yes I do. n/t

[Crazy Guggenheim]

18. So how did you vote? Other or Quantum?

[Shakespeare]

28. Quantum. n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. The kind that does its tests on cats

:evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. What about String Theory?

[Shakespeare]

27. I'm guessing that's covered (loosely) by quantum physics. n/t

[entanglement]

23. You don't even have Condensed Matter Physics in that list

:spank:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

25. Byte me ..............

I'll change it.

On Edit:

I can't! Put it under Other.

[miss_kitty]

24. That Quantum shit

and don't even TRY to talk me out of it...

[Crazy Guggenheim]

26. Phuck yes!

[supernova]

29. What happenend to astrophysics?

I love that stuff.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. And geophysics?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

31. Put it in Other. I love the Astrophysics stuff to!

[miss_kitty]

34. wHAT ABOUT

pHYSICscal education? jumping jacks and stuff?>...?????///? huh?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

35. Some people are never satified ............. I knew this was going

to a flame war ..........

:popcorn:

[jmowreader]

36. Particle physics for me, thanks

You get to study such wonderful things as:

If a police car weighing 3500 lbs and traveling at 60mph runs head-on into a van weighing 3500 lbs and sitting dead still, how much are my taxes going to go up to pay for the new police car?

Oh yeah, imagery from the detectors in a cyclotron is really cool too.

[hyphenate]

38. I don't understand a lot of the more abstract stuff

but at least classic physics are fairly concrete in subject matter.

[El Fuego]

43. I majored in electrical engineering

But the only reason I did that was because I loved physics and calculus. So everyone said "you have to be an EE!"

But I hated EE. :(

[achtung_circus]

48. I like the women in Gypsie costumes,

the ones tthat tell the Tarot cards. That strikes me as more scientifically rigourous than tea leaves.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

50. Weirdo .........

[Jara sang]

51. Other

Theoretical, like how do I know the color blue to me is the same as the colr blue to you

[Crazy Guggenheim]

52. Same here. However, the difference between Theorectical and

Applied Physics is Applied deals with Electronics.

[ismnotwasm]

60. That depends

Did any physics every figure out the trajectory of a frisbee?

[Crazy Guggenheim]

61. As far as I know it has been.

[ismnotwasm]

64. Um, then I vote Quantum.

Because then I get to create stuff just by looking at it.

[Fight_n_back]

62. With Quantum Physics I am GOD

with the other ones Im just a guy.

Thats how I roll.

[Democrats_win]

63. SOLID STATE PHYSICS controls the world.

DRAM is the most prolific man-made object on Earth.

[Redstone]

65. Topological physics. Read "One, two, three, infinity"

by George Gamow.

It's an old book, but still relevant. And it has kind of a deep, personal meaning for me. Not that this makes any difference to you all, but read the book anyway. You'll be glad you did.

redstone

[youthere]

66. Quantum fer me-specifically string theory..

*in best Sammy Davis Jr. voice*
That craaaaazzy string theory man.

[Fox Mulder]

67. I like astronomy.

I know it can fit in many categories above, but I'm lumping them together.

:)

[Crazy Guggenheim]

68. So you voted Other?

[Fox Mulder]

69. Yes.

:)

[bridgit]

72. Quantum...