( searching 654 episodes of Calamities of Nature!)

• Studying Time

  [[Ferdinand and a guy are sitting on a bench.]] Ferdinand: So what do you do? Theoretical physicist: Theoretical physics -- I study the nature of time and time travel. Ferdinand: What about particle physics? Theoretical physicist: Theoretical Physicists in the 1960s and 1970s were incredibly successful in developing the standard model. It still stands today as our best theory of elementary particles and their interactions. Ferdinand: So do you study this time stuff because you can contribute more to an understudied area of research? Theoretical physicist: No... Theoretical physicist: It's so I can figure out how to go back in time to the 1960s, take out all the theoretical physicists, and have all their glory for myself! Ferdinand: Awesome! You'll be the physics-ator! {{Alt text: Hasta la vista, Steven Weinberg!}} {{keywords: physics, Sean Carroll}}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=601

• Physics Pick Up Lines

  [[ Panel: Dating Pro tip: Using Physics in your pick up lines is guaranteed to get you some *action*. ]] [[ Ferdinand in a bar, tries out physics pick up lines ]] Ferdinand: Hey Baby, do you want to learn about stimulated emission? Woman: Looks like my years of Kung Fu training are finally going to pay off! Ferdinand: Excuse me, would you like to compare resonant frequencies? Woman: Want to see if your face resonates with my boyfriend's fist? Ferdinand: Hey Ladies, do you want to help me solve the three-body problem? Women: Should we kick your ass individually or at the same time? [[Sub-panel: Note: the "action" you get may not be what you were looking for.]] {{alt-text: Disclaimer: using physics pick up lines may result in you never getting a date again. }}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=444

• The Physics of Math

  [[Aaron and Harold are walking through the woods]] Aaron: Biology is just applied Chemistry, and Chemistry is just applied Physics, but Math stands above them all as the most pure discipline. Aaron: Mathematical truths are absolutely necessary and transcendent, but our knowledge of these truths always comes from proofs. Aaron: The act of developing a proof always relies on some sort of physical process, whether it be in a brain or computer, and this cannot contradict what is true about nature. [[Aaron and Harold stop walking, Aaron faces Harold, and Ferdinand peeks his head in from the right side]] Aaron: So ultimately, whether a mathematical proposition is provable or unprovable, decidable or undecidable, depend on the laws of Physics. Ferdinand: In other words, Math is Physics bitch!
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=581

• Chandrasekhar

  [[Alp and Harold are walking together through a forest with a star covered sky above.]] Alp: In 1930, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was on a boat trip from India to Cambridge to begin his graduate studies in physics. Alp: Along the way, he used the quantum mechanics of electrons to show that an exotic kind of star called a white dwarf has a maximum mass. Alp: Unfortunately, the eminent astrophysicist Sir Arthur Eddington was adamantly opposed to this mass limit. Alp: Even though most physicists agreed that Chandrasekhar was right, and he eventually won the Nobel Prize for his discovery, no one defended him because of Eddington's immense status. Harold: It's impressive that throughout the ordeal Chandrasekhar always kept his composure Alp: Well, there was one incident... Eddington: I disagree! There's no maximum mass for white dwarfs. Chandrasekhar: No Professor Eddington, there's no maximum mass for your mom! {{alt text: And Dirac was all like "DAAAAMN!"}} {{keywords: yo mama, astronomy, astrophysics, physics}}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=549

• Philosophy is Dead

  [[Aaron is talking to an obvious philosopher. You can tell because of the pretentious ponytail, and the lack of a tie.]] Aaron: Hey postmodern philosopher. What's up? Philosopher: Just the usual... Philosopher: ... misapplying the theory of relativity, misappropriating Heisenburg's uncertainty principle, misinterpreting G?del's incompleteness theorem. Aaron: It might help if you learned some math and physics. Philosopher: Believe me, I've tried. Philosopher: Why do you think I became a philosopher?
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=272

• ESP Evidence

  [[Aaron and Harold walking through the woods.]] Harold: Did you hear that a major psychology journal will be publishing an article claiming evidence for extrasensory perception? Aaron: Yeah, but I don't think the researchers used a sufficiently large sample of data in their analysis. Harold: What would have been an appropriately sized sample? Aaron: The entire history of biology, neurology, psychology, and physics.
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=478

• Poetry in Motion

  [[Alp and Raymond sit beside a tree. It is twilight.]] Raymond: Alp, what are exploding stars called? Alp: Supernovae. Raymond: What are zero resistance conductors called? Alp: Superconductors. Raymond: What's the greatest symmetry in particle physics? Alp: Supersymmetry. Raymond: Scientists aren't the most poetic when it comes to naming their discoveries, huh? Alp: Okay, do you prefer super DUPER?
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=214

• Yo Mama Jokes: Physics Edition

  [[Text panel: Calamities of Nature presents... Yo Mama Jokes: Physics edition]] Ferdinand: Yo Mama is so slow that her De Broglie wavelength is observable on macroscopic scales! Ferdinand: Yo Mama is so big that she has mass whether or not the Higgs Boson exists! Ferdinand: Yo Mama is so easy that in the "Many Worlds" interpretation of Quantum Mechanics I've slept with her in every universe! {{ Alt text: Disclaimer: You may not enjoy this comic as much if you're a liberal arts major. }}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=401

• Theory of Everything

  [[ Harold and Aaron sitting in the woods, perhaps watching a sunset. ]] Harold: Do you think physicists will one day develop a "Theory of Everything"-- A single theory that explains all particles and forces, and underlies all known physical phenomena? Harold: Because if they do, I think it will be one of out society's greatest successes. Aaron: Then the fact that few people will be able to appreciate it will be one of our greatest failures. {{ alt-text: It's not a good sign when people are still complaining about having to learn physics that's been around for over 300 years... }}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=643

• Responsibility

  [[Aaron and Harold are walking in a forest]] Harold: Neurological research increasingly shows that many of the actions we think we're consciously choosing to take are actually caused subconsciously. Harold: This raises the question of responsibility--should we be punished for doing something bad if it may be due to our brain making decisions outside our control? Aaron: Nobody seems to mind taking credit for all the good things their brain does. {{alt-text: ... and the Nobel Prize in physics goes to a physicist's brain. Not the physicist, just his brain!}}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=625

• Intelligence

  [[Harold and Aaron are walking out toward the beach.]] Aaron: How much of intelligence is environmental versus being intrinsic to that person? Aaron: Society celebrates some people for being smart and holds the physicist on a higher pedestal than the plumber. Aaron: But in a sense, both are merely experts in their limited circle of experience. If the plumber had the same opportunities and interest in learning physics, couldn't he be a physicist too? Harold: So you're saying everyone is equally smart? Aaron: Either that or everyone's equally dumb.
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=207

• Lil' Calamities and Wholesome Influences

  [[ Lil' Ferdinand indoors, perhaps in his bedroom, rocking out to music playing on his boom-box. ]] Adult: [[ from off-panel, unseen ]] Turn that noise down! Adult: Why are you always listening to that satanic garbage?! Adult: Try something a little more wholesome-- Like Physics and Philosophy. [[ Adult tosses Ferdinand a couple books. ]] Lil' Ferdinand: [[reading a book]] Maxwell's demon?! LaPlace's demon?! Descartes' *evil* demon?! {{ alt text: What's with all these physicists and philosophers always invoking demons? }}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=466

• The Truth About Physicists

  [[Ferdinand and Raymond are walking along together.]] Ferdinand: You know why physics is great? Everything can be constructed as a euphemism. Raymond: What do you mean? Ferdinand: For example, you could say "He sure enjoys splitting the atom, if you know what I mean!" Raymond: Okay, but c'mon, that's just one example Ferdinand: She likes releasing the latent heat! He's warming up the large hadron collider! She's fast at pumping the dewar! She knows how to produce the superfluid! She's quick at identifying the Poynting vector! He's an expert at renormalizing the bare mass! Raymond: Wow, do physicists just giggle with each other all day? Ferdinand: Yup, all physicists are perverts. {{alt-text: Dewar?... I hardly knew her! }}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=632

• Talking to God

  [[Aaron and Harold in a bench-swing hanging from a tree]] Harold: So you think that if God really did write the 10 commandments, then we missed out on a big opportunity? Aaron: Yeah, how often do we get to talk directly to God? Do we really need to be told that murder is wrong? No duh, God! Harold: Then what would have been a better inclusion to the ten commandments? Aaron: The secret to unifying Quantum Physics with General Relativity would have been a nice start. {{ alt text: Aaron discusses the ten commandments with Harold. No, Charlton Heston is not involved.}}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=325

• One Too Many Worlds

  [[Alp and Ferdinand are sitting at a bar with a woman having drinks. The woman has a martini and Alp and Ferdinand are drinking bears.]] Ferdinand: Hey baby. Woman: What do you want? Ferdinand: You know, according to the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, right now there's a universe in which we're getting it on! [[Woman throws drink in Ferd's face.]] Woman: Jerk!! [[Woman storms off.]] Ferdinand: Chicks don't appreciate the subtleties of quantum mechanics! Alp: This is why there aren't more women in physics. {{title text: One Too Many Worlds}}
  
  

  http://calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=287