Yarr, ye scurvy dogs. Me here talkin’ pirate, seeing as it’s talk like a Pirate day (Thanks Todd) and me thinkin what would Pirate’s physics must look like. Being prone to long explanations and other yarring expletives, methinks we shall talk about proper designs of planks fer walking the plank.
Seeing as planks are ye olde version of good ole trampolines, we should be talking about trampolines and other springy designs to entertain the pirate, modern and old, yarr. And we be seein’ you turned into chum, yarr. So stay hooked fer we wil talk endlessly about our honorary Pirate, ye olde Robert Hooke, friend and chum of ye olde Captain Hook.
So we here be talking about Hooke’s famous Plank law:
which explaineth how much a Plank bends (
Also, seeing as planks bending is similar to spring bending, we here give the Hooke’s law for springs
where
We here be thinking that Hooke’s law bein’ so simple that even a pirate can write it, we here be declaring Robert Hooke an honorary Pirate, and we be naming our ship Hooke’s hook in his honor and that any material who is subject to Hooke’s law be called a Hookean material and any person subject to Hook’s law be made to walk the plank. Aye.
Seein as I am tired already of talkin’ so much equations, we here be wishing you a happy talk like a pirate day. Arrr.
hehe.. that’s fantastic david, it seems the language comes to you naturally… i propose you write your next paper (or let’s say, at least one section) in pirate dialect.. it would certainly brighten up the arxiv
I’m not sure, but I think you just explained my tragic diving board accident I had when I was 14. Great post .. thanks
Shiver me timbers! Literally! Make that plank vibrate!
If the plank were a perfect continuum, and those pesky atoms didn’t exist, then it would have an infinite number of normal modes of vibration. As all swabbies know (at least, all swabbies who have studied thermodynamics), if the plank were in thermal equilibrium every degree of freedom (freedom! no law! every man for himself!) would have equal energy on average. This is the famous Pirate Law of Equiparrrrrrrrrtition.
Since there are infinitely many normal modes, there are infinitely many degrees of freedom (anarchy!), and the total energy of the plank is infinity!
So what keeps the plank from sucking all the energy out of the rest of the world? Planck! That is, Planck’s Law, using the famous Planck’s Constant. (“Planck’s constant?” “So he is, boys–like a rock!”)
So thanks to Planck for making the world safe for Planks.
What makes physics and math so interesting for me, is a new vision that you will gain after introducing to one physics law.
I remember the first time that I learned classic movement laws very good. I used to calculate the speed of my father car with my watch and road signs in the highway. “X=V.T” was always so close to the speed indicator of car. As a 14 years old teenager it was a great achievement and realizing a theory in practical use.
Furthermore, similar to this experience, when I was 22 years old, I encountered probability rules in math class in my university. After passing the subject with a good mark, I tried to use the rules with dices in order to confirm my theoretical results based on probability rules.
Hence, paying attention to practical issues is quite necessary to arouse students to be interested in physics and math.
Although I wasn’t so good in math, a new approach for justifying theoretical issues was the reason of my interest in physics and math.
Here in the UK, we’re teaching a short series of year 7 (key stage 3) science lessons with themes related to pirates (why we follow rules in the lab, how we purify bilge water, why boats float, walking the plank). Thanks for the physics lesson!
“Peter Pan must walk the plank” Thats a paradox; Peter Pan can fly!
[...] it should be. Also, the cup is a plastic substance that wants to restore it’s shape. It obeys Hook’s law, which I explained before. Sort [...]