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What Are Things You've Heard That Made You Facepalm?

michaelsteele3

By michaelsteele3
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Endersmens

Endersmens

Posted
Posted
So I'm sitting next to this kid in Graphic Arts class.

He makes fun of me saying that physics controls the universe.

Him: "And you were like, 'Physics is love, physics is life and all that stuff!'"

I then try to explain to him that physics controls everything in the universe.

Him: "Physics is physics, gravity is gravity, yadda yadda yadda."

Me: "Gravity is a PART OF PHYSICS. THEY ARE NOT SEPARATE!" By this point I'm nearly boiling over with anger at how [REDACTED] this kid is being.

Then the teacher comes along and tells us to quiet down and work.

I'm glad this kid isn't in any of my other classes yet.

I have so many problems in my high school physics class.

We are instructed to use 10 m/s^2 for gravity. 10. When it is 9.81. To make things easier. It's not that much different to type in 9.81 instead of 10 into a calculator. And don't get me started on the generalizations. And my teacher never specified that gravity wasn't 9.81 m/s^2 on other bodies besides earth. The class thought ALL GRAVITY was 10 m/2^2, until I pointed it out.

Ugh, high school physics is frustrating.

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wx7

wx7

Posted
Posted (edited)
We are instructed to use 10 m/s^2 for gravity. 10. When it is 9.81. To make things easier. It's not that much different to type in 9.81 instead of 10 into a calculator. And don't get me started on the generalizations. And my teacher never specified that gravity wasn't 9.81 m/s^2 on other bodies besides earth. The class thought ALL GRAVITY was 10 m/2^2, until I pointed it out.

Well, it's much easier to do 3.194189415751*10 without calculators than 3.194189415751*9.8066 without calculators. Unless, of course, you're doing rocket science outside of high school. Then you should prioritize the exact value.

And AFAIK, unless the problem you're solving tells you to use a specific gravity, you should assume it's Earth's gravity, in this case 10 m/s^2.

Edited by wx7
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Endersmens

Endersmens

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Well, it's much easier to do 3.194189415751*10 without calculators than 3.194189415751*9.8066 without calculators.

And AFAIK, unless the problem you're solving tells you to use a specific gravity, you should assume it's Earth's gravity, in this case 10 m/s^2.

Yes, but we have calculators. And she literally just said "gravity is 10 m/s^2" that's a little too general, it misled most of the class.

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Bill Phil

Bill Phil

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Yes, but we have calculators. And she literally just said "gravity is 10 m/s^2" that's a little too general, it misled most of the class.

If that were my class I would have told them about the Gravitational Constant and a whole load of other stuff.

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wx7

wx7

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Yes, but we have calculators. And she literally just said "gravity is 10 m/s^2" that's a little too general, it misled most of the class.

Well, in my school we're not allowed to use calculators in tests, so...

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Endersmens

Endersmens

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Well, in my school we're not allowed to use calculators in tests, so...

I could understand if that was the case. I would gladly use 10 if we didn't have calculators. But we're allowed to use calculators, so I don't see the benefit of using a different number. :rolleyes:

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NuclearNut

NuclearNut

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Yes, but we have calculators. And she literally just said "gravity is 10 m/s^2" that's a little too general, it misled most of the class.

Hey, not quite as bad as c being 3x10^8 according to my chemistry teacher. c=299 792 458 m/s, and that will never change. I mean really, the meter is defined using the speed of light in a vacuum.

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Shpaget

Shpaget

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Hey, not quite as bad as c being 3x10^8 according to my chemistry teacher. c=299 792 458 m/s, and that will never change.

300 000 000 is closer to 299 792 458 than 10 is to 9,81.

In either case, both fine for high school and back of the envelope calculations.

Not mentioning the correct value is a bit weird, though.

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Commander Jebidiah

Commander Jebidiah

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Posted
I have so many problems in my high school physics class.

We are instructed to use 10 m/s^2 for gravity. 10. When it is 9.81. To make things easier. It's not that much different to type in 9.81 instead of 10 into a calculator. And don't get me started on the generalizations. And my teacher never specified that gravity wasn't 9.81 m/s^2 on other bodies besides earth. The class thought ALL GRAVITY was 10 m/2^2, until I pointed it out.

Ugh, high school physics is frustrating.

We have the same problem with gravity except we use 9.8m/s². In Engineering Science we used to use 10 till i pointed out how inaccurate it was.

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Hcube

Hcube

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Posted

I facepalmed today when my genome teacher described the lambda bacteriophage infecting a bacteria : "it's pretty much like a space shuttle closing in and landing on the moon on it's landing legs"

Urgh, he's excellent in genetics, but probably not in so much in rocket science ^^

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Endersmens

Endersmens

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I facepalmed today when my genome teacher described the lambda bacteriophage infecting a bacteria : "it's pretty much like a space shuttle closing in and landing on the moon on it's landing legs"

Urgh, he's excellent in genetics, but probably not in so much in rocket science ^^

SO MUCH CRINGE

blah uncaps

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Kinglet

Kinglet

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I facepalmed today when my genome teacher described the lambda bacteriophage infecting a bacteria : "it's pretty much like a space shuttle closing in and landing on the moon on it's landing legs"

Urgh, he's excellent in genetics, but probably not in so much in rocket science ^^

If I go total nitpick, the eagle also was a space shuttle. It was in space, and shuttled humans from the Apollo capsule to the lunar surface and back.

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Mister Dilsby

Mister Dilsby

Posted
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I facepalmed today when my genome teacher described the lambda bacteriophage infecting a bacteria : "it's pretty much like a space shuttle closing in and landing on the moon on it's landing legs"

Though if he plays KSP, this is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Did he mention whether the lambda bacteriophage uses a separate engine group for VTOL, or is it just a bunch of Vernor thrusters?

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razark

razark

Posted
Posted (edited)

Seen earlier on CNN's website:

Breaking News: <Person X> waves to thousands gathered outside U.S. Capitol

Where <X> is a rather well-known figure.

The fact that the news media feels the need to report that a person waved to a crowd is facepalm worthy, no matter what that person is known for.

Edited by razark
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adsii1970

adsii1970

Posted
Posted
One more post about religion in this thread and it will be locked. Consider yourselves warned.

Please, please, please... [highlight]let's do some self-moderating to keep this thread open[/highlight]. Folks, I have a pretty stressful job working with college students that simply believe all life is is who they are and that the world revolves around and is all about them. I visit this particular thread just so I can see there are others out there that truly are not so self centered and have some common sense. I've had a great many a laugh (or two) during office hours reading some of the truly great posts on this thread. :D

As I often tell my students, your underwear and religion are extremely important and personal. We all know most of us wear underwear and most of us have some sort of opinion on religion and many of us may actually be practitioners in a religion we deem important. However, just as I do not care what type of underwear you wear, I am also not overly concerned with what religion, if any, you subscribe to. It is between you and your chosen deity, just as your underwear is between your body and your clothes (unless you run around the house with your underwear on your head). :D So, with that said, if you want to talk religion, make it a private message. And if you see the need to talk about underwear, I'd prefer that be within the context of a private message because I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW what type of skivvies you wear. :P

So, with this in mind, I will share with you a facepalm moment from today's class:

I have a student who only attends one out of four lectures. This afternoon, he came up to my office hours to yell about his grade that is being displayed on Black Board. I make it a habit not to report non-attendance until mid-terms because if I do it before then, it can mess with a student's financial aid (we are still two weeks away from mid-terms). Anyhow, today he told me that he hated my class, he thought my assignments and grading policy was stupid (four exams, a project paper, and discussion questions on Black Board). He told me that he could pass the class IF I were to do it "old school" - meaning two exams, no paper, no discussion boards. I told him to come back in an hour and IF he were to pass both exams and average a "C" I would give him that as his final grade, no questions asked. I then told him that if he made a "D" or lower, I would immediately report his absences. I even offered to give him five days to prepare for the two exams. His exact words, "I learned it all in high school, I am ready now..." :mad:

Well, after struggling with the first test for an hour and then two hours for the second test, he demanded I grade them right then. He failed the first test (35/100) and failed the second test (22/100) and had the nerve to ask me if we could change the deal to make it easier on him. Nope, I called the financial aid office and reported him as not attending. Never, never make a deal with a college professor you are not prepared to follow through with... :cool:

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wx7

wx7

Posted
Posted (edited)

Here, let's start a self-moderating movement.

Put this at the end of your posts in this thread.

*NEVER make fun of anyone specifically. Just mention the thing they said.

*STAY ON TOPIC

*Do NOT refer to other's posts on this forum. That hasn't ended well in the past.

*Don't talk about religion.

*Don't talk about politics.

*Don't discuss creationism.

#ICanModerateMyself

Is good, no?

*NEVER make fun of anyone specifically. Just mention the thing they said.

*STAY ON TOPIC

*Do NOT refer to other's posts on this forum. That hasn't ended well in the past.

*Don't talk about religion.

*Don't talk about politics.

*Don't discuss creationism.

#ICanModerateMyself

[/quote*

Replace * with a ]

EDIT: Conspiracy theories are still allowed, aren't they?

Edited by wx7
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mythbusters844

mythbusters844

Posted
Posted (edited)
I have so many problems in my high school physics class.

We are instructed to use 10 m/s^2 for gravity. 10. When it is 9.81. To make things easier. It's not that much different to type in 9.81 instead of 10 into a calculator. And don't get me started on the generalizations. And my teacher never specified that gravity wasn't 9.81 m/s^2 on other bodies besides earth. The class thought ALL GRAVITY was 10 m/2^2, until I pointed it out.

Ugh, high school physics is frustrating.

Then why are you doing physics? Do another science class that's honors or AP instead if you're so good for it. Hell, if you hate high school science classes so much, then do a college class.

Edited by mythbusters844
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wx7

wx7

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Posted (edited)
Then why are you doing physics? Do another science class that's honors or AP instead if you're so good for it. Hell, if you hate high school science classes so much, then do a college class.

Uh... I don't think you get to choose what you want to learn in high school...

Like, you have to study math, geography, history, chemistry, biology, physics, etc...

*NEVER make fun of anyone specifically. Just mention the thing they said.

*STAY ON TOPIC

*Do NOT refer to other's posts on this forum. That hasn't ended well in the past.

*Don't talk about religion.

*Don't talk about politics.

*Don't discuss creationism.

#ICanModerateMyself

Edited by wx7
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