# If I had an advanced knowledge of physics, what cool stuff could I do?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 21, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750 "2003-10-21T18:47:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/1 "2003-10-21T18:47:16Z")
Now I know that most people don’t study physics so that they can run better, but the thought does intrigue me. Let’s say I had a very good understanding of the workings of the physical world, and wanted to use my knowledge to do something (either cool or outrageous). What are the limits that my great knowledge and understanding would allow me to achieve?
For chemistry and biology, I can have some imagination. After all, I did watch _Spiderman_ cartoons (and still do in fact, so there!). Mutating DNA (although I can only imagine the lab equipment that carried this out would run into the millions of buckaroos), keeping a healthy body, designing cool new bombs (though I’m not saying I would use 'em unless I became the survivalist my father never was), or designing some cool new material (I dubb thee “ChubberWear”) etc.
But if I knew loads about physics (and not knowing much about it now), what kinda stuff could I do? The best I could come up with is jump higher, though I’m not sure that _even that_ is a correct assumption.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/2 "2003-10-21T18:54:53Z")
With only a little bit of knowledge, you can figure out how to shoot household objects at 200 ft/s.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/3 "2003-10-21T18:58:55Z")
You can work out the physics of karate, and convince yourself that you can break boards without hurting yourself. And then hurt yourself anyway.
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### Author:  [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/4 "2003-10-21T19:43:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> You can work out the physics of karate, and convince yourself that you can break boards without hurting yourself. And then hurt yourself anyway.
Has this ever been tried before?
Seriously I once saw an illusionist who did this “walking on molten lava” act where she walked barefoot on this (well, take a guess) boiling molten lava (something like 2000 degrees celsius, she said - though that’s just a guess).
So this balding overweight 60-year old physicist sticks out his hand and claims he can do that too, and that in fact you don’t have to “corner your psychic energy into the center of your inner being” (as she put it), it’s simply a matter of making contact with the lava maximising (and spreading) the total area of each foot over the lava. He even gave a small equation to explain it. Upon the woman issuing her challenge, this old guy gets up with the utmost confidence, and simply repeats the trick, finishing to rapturous applause afterwards. You should have seen the woman’s face. Let’s just say she was not amused. In fact she probably wanted everyone to leave so she could apply a chokehold on the guy.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/5 "2003-10-21T21:04:37Z")
Well, I have a pretty advanced knowledge of physics and I have yet to do much of anything cool as a result. I mean, if demystifying things like walking on coals, lying on a bed of nails, or why homeopathic medicine is 100% placebo effect counts as cool, then I guess I’ve done some of that. But that’s not exactly superhero stuff. I can’t exactly manipulate matter or bend the elements to my will.
I’d love to be able to jump higher, though – it’d make dunking a basketball so much easier.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/6 "2003-10-21T22:24:11Z")
My pysicist brother proved that there is literally no end to the cool juvenile stunts one can pull with an access to liquid nitrogen! 😃
My favorite: one time, we were in his lab late at night, and he poured a bucket of the stuff - hard - across the floor in the corridor outside his lab.
It has this property of creating a layer of vapour between itself and the ground (which is much hotter than it) - and moving like an air-hockey puck across the floor. Plus, of course, it is steaming and boiling, and it picks up dust from the floor … imagine a steaming, boiling dustball with tentacles. moving really fast.
Well, it bounced off a wall and whent down a corridor … and then we heard a terrible scream!
We ran around to the corridor, and saw a janitor drop his pail & mop and run for dear life, being “chased” by the blob. By the time he got to the end of the corridor, it had all evaporated.
He turned around and saw … nothing. But us staring at him. “Did you see it?!” - “see what?” 😉
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/7 "2003-10-21T22:34:27Z")
Also, you might want to check out the Leidenfrost effect.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/8 "2003-10-21T23:41:00Z")
My friend Dave Van Domelen (big physics brain by day, toy and comic book reviewer by night) uses his awesome knowledge to [conduct science labs using Hot Wheels™ cars.](http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~dvandom/Edu/loop.html)🙂
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/9 "2003-10-21T23:46:39Z")
Does pouring liquid oxygen on things and watching them burn like catherine wheels count?
How about being able to build a wormhole as soon as someone makes enough exotic matter?
> [@](#):
>
> boiling molten lava (something like 2000 degrees celsius, she said - though that’s just a guess).
Is that hot enough for the lava to boil? Or was ‘hotter boiling water’ meant?
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### Author:  [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/10 "2003-10-22T01:18:39Z")
You could do my physics homework for me. That would be _really_ cool.
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### Author:  [@Kakofonous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakofonous)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/11 "2003-10-22T01:26:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Malthus \*
> \*\* Plus, of course, it is steaming and boiling, and it picks up dust from the floor … imagine a steaming, boiling dustball with tentacles. moving really fast.
> \*\*
This is how we clean our lab - once a year whether it needs it or not. A year is enough time to build man-eating sized dust bunnies then we bring 'em to life with the LN2. Good stuff.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/12 "2003-10-22T02:45:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> ## quote:
>
> ## You can work out the physics of karate, and convince yourself that you can break boards without hurting yourself. And then hurt yourself anyway.
>
> Has this ever been tried before?
Yeah. By me. I got a couple of articles and a bachelor’s thesis out of it.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/13 "2003-10-22T05:09:35Z")
You can answer many questions in GQ. 🙂
Experimental physicists get to design and build all sorts of cool stuff like orbital telescopes and particle accelerators, at least when the government gives us the money to do so. :rolleyes:
Knowledge of physics allows you to understand how the world works, which I think is a cool thing. But physics is a theoretical field; you can apply knowledge of physics to make machines and gadgets, but that falls under the category of “engineering.”
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/14 "2003-10-22T05:18:36Z")
By the way, here’s a man who applied his knowledge of physics (aerodynamics in particular) to become the second fastest man on earth[li]:[/li]
[http://www.speed101.com/photos.htm](http://www.speed101.com/photos.htm)
second highest speed record for a human-powered vehicle
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### Author:  [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/15 "2003-10-22T07:49:14Z")
In my case, you get to say “Hey, I’m a female astrophysicist”, which gets admiring glances, or “you’re strange” looks. You get to go on cool observing trips and conferences to far flung locations like Australia, Hawaii, Chille, and New Mexico, _without having to pay for any of it_ (well if you’re an academic physicist at any rate).
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/16 "2003-10-22T08:50:27Z")
I think ‘answer Q in GD’ is the best so far 🙂
**Angua** : Yes, but you don’t really need any of the knowledge to say that. If _I_ say “Hey, I’m a female astrophysicist.” I get plenty of strange looks and I know jack-shit about physics (apart from basic dynamics and a little about manifolds)
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### Author:  [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/17 "2003-10-22T09:01:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Shade \*
> \*\ ***Angua** : Yes, but you don’t really need any of the knowledge to say that. If _I_ say “Hey, I’m a female astrophysicist.” I get plenty of strange looks and I know jack-shit about physics (apart from basic dynamics and a little about manifolds) \*\*
Yeah, but you’re a Trinitarian Part III mathmo. 'Nuff said. 😉
Besides, being a female astrophysicist has other advantages, if you’re in the right company. 😃
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/18 "2003-10-22T09:23:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Angua \*
> **Yeah, but you’re a Trinitarian Part III mathmo. 'Nuff said. 😉**
OK, OK. Change that to read ‘_stranger_ looks.’
Speaking of which, eep, 11.00 lectures, got to go.
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### Author:  [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/19 "2003-10-22T09:30:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Shade \*
> \*\*
> Speaking of which, eep, 11.00 lectures, got to go. \*\*
11 o’clock lectures! Luxury! In my day we had 9 am lectures every day, including Saturdays. And we had to write our own notes.
But back to the OP, an advanced knowledge of physics will enable you to do practically _anything_. I speak from experience.
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2003, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-had-an-advanced-knowledge-of-physics-what-cool-stuff-could-i-do/208750/20 "2003-10-22T09:34:23Z")
To paraphrase a conversation I had recently:
Marisa: How many 9.00 lectures do you have?
Me: Nine O’clock lectures? What are these of which you speak?
Marisa: I hate you.
Seriously, I just got lucky with my choice of courses. And no, I didn’t know that when I chose them. On fridays, I have one lecture, at 12.00. OTOH, part III is really fucking hard! And I miss lunch every day as I have 12.00s.
Anyway, for all you knew, I had a break between my 9.00 and 11.00 lectures.
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