Simplification Memes

Physics problems and their ridiculous simplifications are a special kind of comedy. The textbook casually instructs you to "assume a penguin is a circular cylinder" like it's the most reasonable thing in the world. Meanwhile, physics students just nod along with that "perfect, makes total sense" expression. Because who hasn't looked at a waddling bird and thought "ah yes, clearly a perfect geometric shape with uniform density." Next week: assume the cow is a perfect sphere in a vacuum!

Behold the mighty physics student on exam day! While mere mortals fret over air resistance, our fearless hero charges forward like a majestic lion, ignoring such trivial complications! In the wild kingdom of physics exams, those who simplify survive. "Assume a frictionless vacuum" is their battle cry! Why waste precious seconds calculating drag coefficients when you can just scribble "neglecting air resistance" and strut onward? The professors might growl, but they secretly admire such academic audacity. Remember kids: in physics, it's not about cutting corners—it's about "making reasonable approximations"!

Behold the ultimate physics simplification in its natural habitat! Physicists have a notorious habit of reducing complex problems to absurdly idealized scenarios. "Let's just assume this cow is a perfect sphere with uniform density and no air resistance..." Meanwhile, real-world engineers are sobbing in the corner with their 57-variable equations. This is why theoretical physicists can calculate the orbit of an electron but still can't predict when their coffee will stop being too hot to drink.

Romance is cute and all, but have you ever experienced the pure ecstasy of simplifying a complex physics problem? Engineers and physicists everywhere are quietly nodding in agreement. Those magical phrases that transform an impossible calculation into something actually solvable hit different. Sure, "I love you" makes your heart flutter, but "friction is negligible" makes your entire problem set disappear! The perfect relationship might be temporary, but the joy of assuming ideal gas behavior is forever.

Finally, the theoretical physicist's dream comes true—a literal spherical chicken in a vacuum! For decades, physics problems have started with "assume a spherical chicken..." and now gardeners have made it reality. The only difference? This one lays eggs instead of solving differential equations. Perfect for those who want their poultry to have perfect symmetry under rotation. Next up: frictionless cows on infinite planes!

Physicists will literally model anything as a sphere to make the math easier. This cat has transcended reality by actually becoming the perfect spherical approximation! The Stefan-Boltzmann law calculates thermal radiation from objects, and yes, theoretically works on cats too. In physics problem sets, you'll find everything from "spherical cows" to "frictionless planes" because reality is messy and equations are clean. The cat's perfect loaf formation is basically proving that nature occasionally cooperates with our ridiculous simplifications. Fun fact: If you actually calculated the power radiated by this "spherical cat," it would be around 5.5 watts. That's enough energy to power a small LED light bulb. No wonder cats always feel warm!

Physics professors everywhere just nodded in approval. The left drawing perfectly captures what happens when physicists say "let's simplify the problem" – suddenly that complex chicken becomes a perfect sphere! This is the infamous "spherical cow approximation" in action, where messy real-world objects get transformed into perfect mathematical shapes so equations actually work. Meanwhile, the real chicken on the right is just living its non-spherical life, completely unaware it's breaking several laws of theoretical physics by having actual features. Next up in the physics textbook: frictionless chickens in a vacuum!