Geodesics Memes

Posts tagged with Geodesics

I Failed My General Relativity Class

I Failed My General Relativity Class
The meme shows a beautiful physics train wreck in action! It starts with legitimate general relativity concepts (geodesics being the paths objects follow in curved spacetime) but then derails spectacularly into flat Earth nonsense. The character begins by correctly explaining that geodesics are straight lines in spacetime and that objects follow these paths. He even correctly notes that objects moving fast enough can orbit a planet. But then comes the hilarious logical collapse - suddenly claiming Earth's surface is a straight line and therefore the Earth must be flat! It's like watching someone solve a complex equation perfectly until the very last step where they divide by zero and proudly declare "therefore, unicorns exist!" Einstein would be facepalming so hard right now.

When Your "Straight Line" Depends On Dimension

When Your "Straight Line" Depends On Dimension
The meme beautifully captures the collision between map projections and spatial reasoning! The original tweet claims you can sail from India to the USA in a "straight line" without touching land, showing a curved path on a flat map. But here's the mind-bender: that curved line is actually geodesically straight in 3D space! When sailing across a spherical Earth, the shortest path (a "straight line" in navigation terms) follows what's called a great circle. On flat Mercator projections, these great circles appear curved because... well, you're squishing a sphere onto a rectangle! The commenters missing this concept is pure comedy gold. It's like watching someone argue that the Earth is flat while standing on a globe!