When Physics Gets Real: The Inertia Tensor Nightmare

Physics students everywhere just felt this in their soul! The meme starts all innocent with the simple moment of inertia formulas we learn in intro physics. "I = L/ω" and "I = mr²" seem manageable enough—just angular momentum divided by angular velocity, or mass times radius squared. No biggie!

But then BAM! The third panel hits with the full inertia tensor matrix, complete with all those cross-terms and partial derivatives. And the fourth panel shows the expanded form with summations that would make even seasoned physicists question their life choices.

It's the perfect representation of how physics education works: "Here's the simplified version we teach beginners" vs "Here's what you actually need for real-world problems." The character's progression from confident explaining to absolute existential crisis is basically the entire physics degree experience compressed into four panels!