Enjablog

I’ve been working on a project the past few weeks which basically just fills in the gaps when I have breaks from the main project I’m working on. While working this, I spend about a quarter of my time doing calculations to determine the energy exerted in a collision, half of it correcting Boss Jr’s calcs because he has this compulsion where he has to do a calc every time I do one, and the last quarter trying to explain why his numbers are just made up and trying to convince him to stop.

The most recent revision he sent me had velocity subtracted from a mass. I thought this was wrong because of the dimensional analysis and what with it not making any sense. But Ian helped me understand:

Lesson 1: As velocity approaches c, mass trends toward infinity. So you add velocity to a mass, not subtract.

Other notable quotes from today’s interactions:
“I think we agree. Do you agree?” Um, no.
“Ok, so ignore the calcs for now. Do you agree with the concepts?” Do I agree with conservation of energy? Yes. Conservation of momentum? Yes. Shall we get back to the part where the calcs show no understanding of these concepts?
“Thanks, this was really helpful for me… *pause* You think this was a waste of time, don’t you?” Well, yes. But I recognize that professional courtesy dictates that I not answer that honestly. So, um, no… I’m glad you understand now.

He was so proud of himself too. He had printed out this explanation and told me how he found it on Wikipedia. Because, you know, some dude was up late one night, worked out a proof for conservation of energy, and decided he would post it to Wikipedia posthaste!

QoTD: “It would help if I were better at Physics, wouldn’t it?”