There once was a [person] from [place]
Whose [body part] was [special case].
When [event] would occur,
It would cause [him or her]
To violate [law of time/space]!
@matildalove @rgarner We've clearly read the same bash.org thread...
It's always a marvel to me,
For a pendulum hanging quite free,
Each tick and each tock of a grandfather clock
Is 2Pi(sqrt(L/g)).
I still mention this to students at that level (even though it's an approximation).
A mosquito was heard to exclaim,
"A chemist has poisoned my brain!"
The cause of its sorrow
Was paradichloro-
Diphenyltrichloroethane
[EDIT: Corrected bracketing on 2Pi(sqrt(L/g)), thanks Anton]
@_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner Here is a classic my mom taught me.
Johnny was a chemist, but Johnny is no more,
for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4!
@Extra_Special_Carbon @matildalove @rgarner
There once was a lady named Fisk,
Who's fencing was exceedingly brisk.
So swift was her action
Lorentz contraction
Reduced her Rapier to a disc
(This was on the wall of my high school physics lab in the 80s, a teacher who was there at the time, and a colleague today, retires next month.)
Another variant (unattributed in my source):
A fencing instructor named Fisk
In duels was terribly brisk.
So fast was his action,
The Fitzgerald contraction
Foreshortened his foil to a disk.
The next one (also unattributed):
A rocket explorer named Wright
Once travelled much faster than light.
He set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.
_________
Both from a collection published in 1978.
Russell Garner
Matilda Love
Geoff 🏴
Extra_Special_Carbon
Vassil Nikolov | Васил Николов