s Thoughts from the Physics Chick: S is for Library "Science"

Saturday, December 09, 2006

S is for Library "Science"

The scene: dinner at the bishop’s house with a few other ward members. The bishop’s kids (aged 2-12) are going around the table, trying to guess what everyone is studying.

They get to me and I give them a clue: I work with books.

“Librarian!”

“Yep,” their dad says. “She’s studying library science.”

The ten-year-old says (being a bit of a smart mouth), “Well, if you’re studying library science, do they teach you physics at the library?”

“Only when we drop the books and they accelerate at a rate of 9.8 m/s^2.”

Everyone around the table looks sort of stunned.

Listen, kid. You picked the wrong librarian to pick on.

8 Comments:

At December 09, 2006 7:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In sunday school a month ago, the teacher asked what "force" was. After listing to a few responses, I raised my hand and smiled, "mass times acceleration." No one laughed, and the teacher timidly wrote "mass times exceleration" on the board.

Sometimes, it's sad how little it takes to baffle people. Oh well.

 
At December 09, 2006 10:02 PM, Blogger Wiglaf said...

Whoa, whoa, man, I once got burned on a physics quiz for saying exactly that---"force is mass times acceleration". My teacher adamantly instructed me it is not the case that force is mass times acceleration; rather, force is mathematically equivalent to mass times acceleration (apparently this is an important distinction).

So there! ... um ... yeah.

 
At December 10, 2006 8:32 PM, Blogger B.G. Christensen said...

Beautiful.

 
At December 11, 2006 11:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Putting uppety children in their place is one of my favorite things to do. I really shouldn't enjoy it so much, but it's so fun.

 
At December 11, 2006 12:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're my hero, katya. (No hyperbole present.)

 
At December 12, 2006 1:51 AM, Blogger Th. said...

.

love it.

 
At December 17, 2006 2:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love the pediatric throw-down.

And I enjoy reading your blog.

Have a good day! :)

 
At January 03, 2007 3:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Best story I've read all day :D That was *awesome*.

 

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