this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment

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[–] Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, "spin" was a stupid thing to call it. We have a nice, hard definition of what "spin" is on a macro scale. Why take a complex property of matter that we don't have a name for, and give it the same name as a fairly common, easy-to-understand phenomenon? Extraordinarily smart people being idiots, honestly.

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 9 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Imagine a woman in hot pants with thighs like a Robert Crumb dream woman.

I don't know if it helps with this problem though.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

NoU Imagine a cactus eating a deer.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 10 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

imagines a static cube

Ahhh....

[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Well... Technically they oscillate at a certain frequency.

[–] capuccino@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

electrons be vibin

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I recall a Richard Feynman video where the interviewer asks him to explain how magnets work.

His answer amounts to "I can't explain that to you because if I gave you an accurate answer it would be too technical for it to make sense to you, and if I simplified it to the extent that you could understand, it would no longer be a meaningful answer."

[–] slackassassin@sh.itjust.works 11 points 22 hours ago

His point was that we don't understand the interaction between fundamental forces enough to say, if we were to try and answer the question accurately enough.

So, in one sense ICP was right that we don't know how magnets work. But also they were wrong that scientists be lying. They shouldn't have been pissed.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

All of the most-impactful minds in science were mocked by their contemporaries.

Think about it.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Uuuh I have to remember that one

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (4 children)

That interview answer always seemed like a cop-out to me. You could make a comparison to gravity to explain how magnetism "just is".

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 3 points 18 hours ago

I think OP's meme illustrates Feynman's point very well; there comes a stage where if the number of incorrect statements in your explanation outnumber the the correct ones, it's no longer a meaningful explanation.

[–] dgdft@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I expect Feynman’s answer, if he had a whiteboard and unlimited time, would’ve been to dive into Maxwell’s equations.

With that in mind, his answer makes complete sense. Good luck explaining coupled PDEs to people who aren’t mathy in a few sentences without visual aid. The analogy to the gravitational force isn’t on point; there’s a lot more to be said about how magnets tie to into E&M more broadly, compared to gravity.

Though you’re absolutely right that once you get deep enough into any topic in physics that the answer to “why?” inevitably becomes “it just be like that”.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

The analogy to the gravitational force isn’t on point; there’s a lot more to be said about how magnets tie to into E&M more broadly, compared to gravity.

Yeah, a proper answer would need to dive into how it relates to electricity for sure

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Here's the video.

It's been a while since I watched it, so judge for yourself.

[–] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

To me, there's two ways you could interpret that, one is what are the effects of magnetism which we learn on high school physics, the other other is why does magnetism have those effects which is more something you'd learn in an undergraduate physics or chemistry degree.

[–] slackassassin@sh.itjust.works 4 points 21 hours ago

The answer to why they have those effects would grant you a Nobel prize.

[–] Hupf@feddit.org 23 points 1 day ago
[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 120 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (19 children)

Whenever any of this comes up I remember that physics professor's speech on first day of quantum mechanics that got viral:

“Nobody understands quantum mechanics. The people who came up with it don't understand it. I will do my best so that by the end of this course you don't understand it either, and so you can got out to the world and spread our ignorance.”

Or something to that effect.

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

The Many Worlds Interpretation must be rejected because it makes sense and we've already agreed that Quantum Mechanics is not supposed to make sense.

[–] LordCrom@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Quantum mechanics is illogical and stuff that happens makes no sense but can be recrcreated through experimentation....as long as you don't look at it.

The end

[–] SmoothOperator@lemmy.world 57 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Quantum mechanics is extremely logical - we understand the math extremely well, and the math describes reality better than any other theory.

It is, however, not intuitive.

[–] LordCrom@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I was just being cheeky

[–] blandfordforever@lemm.ee 40 points 1 day ago

I'm so good at not understanding stuff. My time has come.

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 68 points 2 days ago (13 children)

Imagine a mathematical concept that approximates a particle across a spherical plane. Now imagine a force emitted from this sphere in a field. Okay, we're ready to talk about why this is wrong, too.

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[–] AlDente@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 day ago

Right-hand rule bitches!

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago (12 children)

Sounds like a class with an attribute called spin.

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