Thursday, 14 December 2017

electromagnetism - What is the meaning of this "let there be light" joke?


Someone across the restaurant is wearing this shirt, and I certainly don't get it.




Update


Related: What does this quote about the four dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric tensor mean?



Answer



As most people know, "let there be light" is a famous biblical quote, from Genesis. Now, on to the teacher's shirt.


Those equations on his back are Maxwell's equations. "Let there be light" is a joke, because Maxwell's equations describe electromagnetic fields, and light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, so the equations can be used to describe light.


So, as a physicist, one could (jokingly) say that God's "let there be light" refers to him 'inventing' Maxwell's equations.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Understanding Stagnation point in pitot fluid

What is stagnation point in fluid mechanics. At the open end of the pitot tube the velocity of the fluid becomes zero.But that should result...