Spherical cow Memes

Why Physicists Are Calmer Than Us

1 day ago 2.9K views 0 shares

Mathematicians: locked in eternal warfare over the sanctity of calculus. One suggests a shortcut, the other has an existential crisis over "blatant approximations." Meanwhile, physicists casually agree that a cow is a sphere because... why overcomplicate things? The spherical cow approximation is peak physics efficiency—strip away unnecessary details until your problem becomes solvable. Need milk production estimates? Spherical cow. Air resistance calculations? Spherical cow. The brutal truth of science: mathematicians lose sleep over precision while physicists sleep soundly knowing everything is "close enough for practical purposes."

Kids On This Sub When They Realize Approximations Are Everywhere In Physics

Physics Math Science Academia

3 days ago 3.1K views 0 shares

Kids On This Sub When They Realize Approximations Are Everywhere In Physics

The existential crisis every physics student inevitably faces. That moment when you realize the Taylor series in the meme is just the mathematical way of saying "yeah, we're just guessing with extra steps." First-year students enter thinking physics offers perfect models of reality, then discover we're all just truncating infinite series and pretending air resistance doesn't exist. The astronaut with the gun is just enforcing what senior physicists have known for decades—it's approximations all the way down. Spherical cows in vacuum, anyone?

Call Us Spherical Again, I Dare You

Physics Math Science

13 days ago 3.7K views 0 shares

When physicists simplify problems by treating cows as perfect spheres, these ladies took it personally. The infamous "spherical cow" is a classic physics joke where complex systems (like animals) are reduced to perfect spheres to make math easier. These vengeful bovines standing before their burning barn are clearly sending a message to theoretical physicists everywhere: oversimplify us one more time and find out what happens to your tenure. Next time you're solving a physics problem, remember - real cows hold grudges and apparently know how to use matches.

How Physicists See Chickens

Physics Science Academia

14 days ago 3.9K views 0 shares

Behold, the perfect spherical chicken in its natural habitat! In introductory physics problems, we're always told to "assume a spherical cow" or other ridiculous simplifications to make the math work. This chicken clearly got the memo and decided to comply with our theoretical models. Next week in class: frictionless surfaces and point masses! Remember kids, in physics we don't care about feathers, beaks, or biological reality—just whether we can integrate over its volume using spherical coordinates.

Assume Spherical Doge

Physics Science Math

22 days ago 5.8K views 0 shares

Behold! The classic physicist's nightmare! Poor doggo trapped in the simplified realm where everything becomes a perfect shape. Physicists LOVE making ridiculous simplifications to solve equations—"assume a spherical cow in vacuum" is their go-to move when math gets scary. This green computational canine is clearly experiencing the horror of being reduced to basic geometry while fluid dynamics equations swirl around it. The green lines represent streamlines in the simulation, and the doggo is NOT having it. Next thing you know, they'll be ignoring air resistance and saying friction doesn't exist!

Reality Is Often Disappointing

Physics Science Academia Math

25 days ago 7.0K views 0 shares

Physics textbooks exist in their own special dimension where penguins are perfect cylinders and cows are spherical. Nobody asked for these simplifications, yet there they are, teaching generations of students that air resistance is negligible and pulleys are frictionless. Next time your experiment fails, remember it's not you—it's just that reality refuses to be a well-behaved mathematical model. Those of us who've spent years in the lab know the truth: the universe is held together by duct tape and statistical error bars.

Physicists Be Like: Spherical Approximations

Physics Science Math Academia

1 month ago 6.8K views 0 shares

Physicists Be Like: Spherical Approximations

The infamous "spherical cow" approximation strikes again, but with a feline twist. In physics, we routinely commit mathematical atrocities by reducing complex objects to perfect spheres just to make the math tractable. Sure, your cat might have legs, a tail, and a personality that defies Euclidean geometry, but in our equations? Perfect sphere. Next week: frictionless cats on perfectly flat surfaces. The differential equations practically solve themselves.

Let's Assume The Bear Is A Cylinder

Physics Math Science Academia

1 month ago 6.4K views 0 shares

Physics students will recognize this immediately. That stuffed panda is the physical manifestation of "assume a spherical cow" but with extra steps. In theoretical physics, we routinely simplify complex objects into basic geometric shapes to make the math tractable. The cylindrical bear approximation would allow us to calculate its moment of inertia without accounting for those pesky limbs. Next week: calculating the aerodynamic properties of this bear assuming it's thrown in a vacuum with negligible air resistance.

Spherical Cow Undergoes Lorentz Contraction

Physics Science Academia

1 month ago 5.1K views 0 shares

Spherical Cow Undergoes Lorentz Contraction

Physics professors have two modes: either oversimplify everything ("assume a spherical cow") or bombard you with relativistic effects. This meme beautifully combines both academic traditions by showing what happens when our idealized bovine approaches 87% of light speed. The cow gets squashed along its direction of motion due to Lorentz contraction—a real effect from Einstein's relativity where objects appear compressed when moving at relativistic speeds. The footnote about ignoring the Terrell-Penrose effect (which would actually make the cow appear rotated rather than contracted) is that perfect touch of academic pedantry that makes me think the creator has suffered through at least three advanced physics courses.

Very Suitable Assumption

Math Physics Science Academia

1 month ago 7.3K views 0 shares

Behold the magnificent divide between theoretical purists and practical problem-solvers! At the top, we have mathematicians having an existential crisis over calculus shortcuts. One casually suggests "just multiply by dx" while the other has a complete meltdown over such mathematical blasphemy. HOW DARE YOU SIMPLIFY! Meanwhile, physicists at the bottom are living their best approximation life. "Is a cow a sphere?" "Yes." Because why complicate things with udders and legs when you can just treat that farm animal as a perfect geometric shape! This is the essence of physics - where everything can be a perfect sphere if you squint hard enough and ignore enough variables. Spherical cows in a vacuum - the cornerstone of every good physics problem! *twirls mustache maniacally*

Theoretical Physicists Press X To Doubt Reality

Physics Science Math Academia

1 month ago 8.0K views 0 shares

Theoretical Physicists Press X To Doubt Reality

Theoretical physicists and doubt have a fascinating relationship—they simply press X to dismiss it. While experimental physicists need evidence, theoreticians just need a whiteboard and the audacity to say "consider a spherical cow." The background text ironically argues science isn't purely mathematical, meanwhile theoretical physicists are calculating whether the universe is a hologram projected from a 2D surface. Classic.

When Wizard Physics Meets Spherical Approximations