There once was an X from place B
Who satisfied predicate P
The X did thing A
In a specified way
Resulting in circumstance C.

@rgarner

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.

@_thegeoff @Extra_Special_Carbon @matildalove @rgarner

@_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner

I archived the top 50(?) or so on limerickdb before it was lost.

I think my fave is

A woman in liquor production
Owns a still of exquisite construction
The alcohol boils
Through magnetic coils
She says that it’s “proof by induction”

@knack @_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner
There once was a pirate named Bates,
Who was practicing fencing on skates
When he fell on his cutlass,
Which rendered him nutless
And practically useless on dates.

@_thegeoff

Wait, I think g needs to be under the square root too...

@anton Good point, well made: 2Pi(sqrt(L/g))
@_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner I think I remember the approximation comes from tan(x) is small for small angles?

@donlamb_1 @_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner

Here you go @donlamb_1 -

The math I'm afraid is in tangles
It's tough for us mortals to wrangle
But here where the angle is small
We can use the approximate law
That tan(x) is x for small angles

@aadmaa2 @donlamb_1 @_thegeoff @matildalove @rgarner

If your need for precision is keen
It is quite readily seen
That it takes the direction
Of a proportional correction
By squared theta divided by sixteen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum_(mechanics)

Pendulum (mechanics) - Wikipedia

@matildalove @rgarner I had to make myself hear how it sounded; first read I didn't realize it was a legit limerick (but it wasn't on a thread of them, eitehr).