Frictionless Memes

Physics folks have the most fascinating double standard! They'll happily simplify a complex farm animal into a perfect sphere with zero friction when solving problems (because who needs reality?), but heaven forbid you mix up speed and velocity at a party! 😱 The frictionless cow in vacuum is a classic physics simplification trope - making ridiculous assumptions to make math easier. But mention that you went "really fast" instead of specifying your directional velocity, and suddenly they're foaming at the mouth about vector quantities! This selective rage is basically the unwritten law of physics discussions. Oversimplify the entire universe? Brilliant! Use casual language about motion? Scientific blasphemy!

The infamous "assume a frictionless surface" strikes again! Physics textbooks love creating these bizarrely simplified scenarios where basic laws of nature just... don't apply. Sure, let's ignore air resistance, friction, and apparently gravity's selective application while we're at it. The person in the cart gets normal physics, but the poor soul hanging below? Nope, they're just dangling in theoretical physics purgatory. This is exactly why students think physics is disconnected from reality. Next problem: "Calculate the velocity of this wagon assuming the pool is filled with inviscid fluid and the child is a perfect sphere."