Physics terms made easy

Calculus of residues: How to clean up a bathtub ring

Catoptric: A feline eye

Coma: Italian: multi-toothed device for rearranging one's hair

Commutator: A student who drives to school

Corona: An officer who enquires into the manner of violent death

Cosine: The opposite of "Stop sign"

Cusp: To use profane language

Exit pupil: A retiring student

Flux: Past participle of the verb "to flex"

Ground state: Coffee, before brewing

Harmonic function: Concert

Hermitian operator: Recluse surgeon

Humbug: Noisy wiretap

Hypotenuse: Animal like rhinoceros but with no horn on nose

Len: Singular of lens, specifically a one-surface optical element

Marginal ray: A ray of doubtful origin

Normal solution: The wrong answer

Orifice: Headquarters or place of business

Paradox: Two Ph D's

Polygon: A dead parrot

Poynting vector: A redundant term; all vectors point

Spectra: A female ghost

Sphere: A long, pointed weapon

Spin operator: Owner of a Ferris wheel

Torque: Conversation

Ultraviolet catastrophe: Bad sunburn

Watt: Will you please repeat that remark?


From "A Random Walk in Science"

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