Physics Thread

ApeXaviour · 11-10-2005 5:36pm #1

Since there are at least 3 (more if you include the tp’s) active members here doing the same course and in the same year I figure we deserve at least one little wee thread of our own. It’s purpose? General conversation aswell as a place where we can impart our wisdom/woes about lecturers, coursework, labs, goss etc. Basically it’s a bitch/moan/study group thread.

Of cours far be it in my makeup to exclude anybody. Everybody is welcome to post here

First I’d just like to quote Claire, the physoc secretary and remind everybody of the meet and gree this Thursday in the IAMS:

Claire Raftery wrote:

Hello there folks,

Welcome to Physoc. Just a few reminders:

1. If anyone didn't have their student number in Freshers Week, could you
forward it to me at this address. We need these for our CSC grant to fund
better events for you guys!

2. There will be the Physoc Welcome Reception this Thursday, 13th Oct at
7.30.
It will be in the IAMS (SNIAM) building conference room on the ground
floor. Follow the arrows or go to http://www.tcd.ie/Maps/sniam.html to see
it on the map. There will be refreshments served.
This event involves NO Physics and is an ideal opportunity to meet a wide
range of people. With 308 members this year (thats two and a half times
last years membership), you are guaranteed that a lot of them don't study
Physics so that is no excuse for not coming along!
So don't be afraid, come and get to know the crowd. Bring some friends too -
it'll be E2 at the door for membership.

3. Finally, if you have any problems, questions, issues etc, feel free to
contact me here at this address or ar rafteryc@tcd.ie . Also, don't forget
to keep an eye on our new fancy website www.duphysoc.org. It will have all
the latest news and a forum for your opinions.

See you all on Thursday

Claire
Secretary

ApeXaviour · 11-10-2005 5:51pm

Secondly I just got out of Igor Shvet's lecture.

The man hasn't a clue. Oh makes lots of money for the college with all his "discoveries" but wtf.. It was like he was reading that lecture! Listen closely too him, he talks like Stephen Hawking with a russian accent..

I went up after the lecture to ask him a couple questions, as I'd been studying his crystal structure course heavily over the past few days. And while the concepts seem to come fairly easily, last years tutorial questions were still quite a mystery as to how to go about them.

Jeeze it was like talking to a freaking wall.

Me: "I'm having trouble getting out the primitive base vectors on this question"

IS: "It's a simple cube, one after another, a b c" *(don't forget: hawking with a russian accent)

Me: "What? No no it's got a sort of fcc structure, and I think these are the answers but Im not sure, could you look at them" I hold up a bunch of vector equations I'd worked out.

IS: "No that's too complicated, it's tetragonal"

Me: "Yeah it's tetragonal, but it's face-centered tetragonal, are you sure the a b c is right?"

IS: "Bravais lattice, one after another" At this point he starts doing some new age dance move with his hands apparently to indicate what one after another means..

Me: "em.. ok, thanks..."

The man is very bad at explaining things off the cuff. Don't ever bother to try ask him questions unless you're sure he's previously scripted them.

Ron DMC · 11-10-2005 5:53pm

I also inexplicably joined, but only for the cake at the stand as the shop was SOOOO far away.

Should i come on thursday anyway and get more free stuff?

ApeXaviour · 11-10-2005 5:55pm

Ronny Mitchell wrote:

Should i come on thursday anyway and get more free stuff?

Sure come on down! Just makesure they have your student number or they cant get the money off the CSC for you joining

cuckoo · 11-10-2005 6:22pm

Cystals was nowhere near as much fun as the Galaxies lecture before it, the physics dept thought it would be fun to squeeze ALL of JS physics into the SNIAM LR. For the first half of the lecture a quarter of the class were sitting on the floor until the other half of the room was opened up. Oh, and the earth is screwed in 15,000 million years when bad things happen to the Sun.

I would have pegged IS as having the perfect Dracula accent. "Observe the face centred cube, and as you enthralled by it's beauty are your blood i will suck".

Nietzschean · 11-10-2005 6:44pm

bah physics is for girls

how many people off this board are in those classes? the 3 science heads, sev , and is there any more tp's or others in there?

11-10-2005 7:07pm

They'd better have those conconctions in those overly huge conical flasks like they did when I was in first year...

sleepingbeauty · 11-10-2005 7:29pm

Ooh me likes our own thread :-)

I was not pleased with that chemistry lark in the lecture today, all that fcc and bcc…I dropped chemistry for a reason goddammit :mad: !!!! Ive a feeling igor's course is gonna be the worst, I didn’t like that lecture at all grr. Yeah galaxies was a great laugh, it was all nice and cosy with everyone sitting on the floor lol. I like the fact he’s putting all the notes on the net, he should have done that in first year aswell!!

Dead Ed wrote:

ooooooooohhhhhhh, you JS guys are gonna love listening to your granny trying to confuse you whilst writing rather quickly.

ah mcmurry, Ive had her for way too many lectures now. She does write fast but she writes EVERYTHING she says so you don’t have to listen

Saw you around apex but was talking to someone at the time so couldn’t just dump them lol. Still not sure who cuckoo is but ill get there…

Oh and Im a physics student who never joined physoc…

ApeXaviour · 11-10-2005 8:13pm

sleepingbeauty wrote:

I was not pleased with that chemistry lark in the lecture today, all that fcc and bcc…I dropped chemistry for a reason goddammit :mad: !!!!

Apart from the fcc, bcc, hcp and talking about metals glass etc in the first lecture. It has nothing vaguely at all to do with chemistry. Hah I can't wait til he starts attempting to impart the reciprocal lattice. Yous are all going to be sooo confused. God I'm glad I don't have to re-comprehend that concept. As mind-bending as it is, when igor tries to explain it you're left with that strange sinking feeling as if somebody just gave you a frontal lobotomy.

sleepingbeauty wrote:

Ive a feeling igor's course is gonna be the worst, I didn’t like that lecture at all grr.

It's pretty short so not too bad, and you need to know it to be able to do the other solid state phys courses. The most annoying course is electromag, but it's also one of the most doable. The worst one I think is Stat therm, as lovable as mcgilp is n all, you can study and study and study and study for that course but still not be able to answer one past question.

sleepingbeauty wrote:

Oh and Im a physics student who never joined physoc…

Meh.. come along anyway. I'll try drag yannick along too.

Had a quick chat with cuckoo outside that galaxies lecture before it started (on my way to the library

). She was questioning my calculated truancy. I assured her I had umpteens of notes and would be fine. btw cuckoo are you coming on thurs?

JackKelly · 11-10-2005 8:30pm

I'm getting along in TP. Two days down, many many more to go. Interesting course though. The maths is crazy and i can see myself being in the library a fair bit too.

ApeXaviour · 11-10-2005 8:35pm

TimAy wrote:

I'm getting along in TP. Two days down, many many more to go. Interesting course though. The maths is crazy and i can see myself being in the library a fair bit too.

Riiight right..

You comin thursday?

JackKelly · 11-10-2005 8:52pm

why not

pseudonym · 11-10-2005 9:52pm

cuckoo wrote:

Cystals was nowhere near as much fun as the Galaxies lecture before it, the physics dept thought it would be fun to squeeze ALL of JS physics into the SNIAM LR. For the first half of the lecture a quarter of the class were sitting on the floor until the other half of the room was opened up. Oh, and the earth is screwed in 15,000 million years when bad things happen to the Sun.

Yeah. I got in early and got one of those groovy flappy up and down seats.

John · 11-10-2005 9:57pm

I'm thinking about starting a thread for neuroscientists but considering I'm the only one it's a bit of a waste. Even a thread for biologists is going to be lonely.

cuckoo · 11-10-2005 11:27pm

hmmm. it's beginning to look like the physoc do is going to be a bit of a mini-boards beer with so many of us at it.

edu-myth, the conical flasks of sangria at the reception in your first year were a good prop, honestly they were new flasks that hadn't been used in the lab yet. no, really. honestly.

you may have noticed the then committee were drinking the sangria from the ordinary jug, but that was just a coincidence

fade · 12-10-2005 8:39am

all i can say is haha to everyone heading into js, its hardcore.

on a side note, isnt physics cool? i mean you can use it to explain this

and this

Edwardius · 12-10-2005 8:50am

God I'm glad I don't have to re-comprehend that concept.

I think it's just taken for granted. After many nights of nightmares you just accept that a plane is a ****ing point and move onto the next thing.

Saw you around apex but was talking to someone at the time so couldn’t just dump them lol. Still not sure who cuckoo is but ill get there…

We spent literally minutes setting fire to Dec's arm hair in first year. Try it next time you see him!

Nietzschean · 12-10-2005 10:51am

John2 wrote:

I'm thinking about starting a thread for neuroscientists but considering I'm the only one it's a bit of a waste. Even a thread for biologists is going to be lonely.

yeah i feel ur pain, don't see many mathematicians around ere...

Cookoo wrote:

edu-myth, the conical flasks of sangria at the reception in your first year were a good prop, honestly they were new flasks that hadn't been used in the lab yet. no, really. honestly.

He was 17 at the time, he'd have drank out of almost anything...

BlankCanvas wrote:

Oh and Im a physics student who never joined physoc…

Oddly enough i've join'd physoc previously but never mathsoc(though i did attend free donoughts yesterday...)

whatshisname wrote:

No it's not. look at the figures man, there's far fewer of the breasted hour glass shaped sex than the gruff hairy type. TPs are quite funny to look at but not to talk to 'cos they're a shower of gits

It was a joke.....though there is well more girls per student in physics than tp i'd be think'n. And the tp's are sound.... heck i was one... as was myth so point proven etc

n isn't like the physoc auditor a tp this year?

air_vent · 12-10-2005 11:43am

Ah svets what a man

Get teh ADV MAT to explain it to you after corishs lecture in chem. You can leave that course to the last few weeks before the exams really is a joke of a corse once you realise what a bravais lattice is in the repriocal of repriocal space and can prove it...... ONE WHOLE EXAM QUESTION THAT about 10 lines or so.Trust me on this one.

EM is a pain in the arse just have to learn 17 pages back and front off by heart but practice every now and then and its cool!!

Materials will be laughing at the physics heads come exams cause they miss out on half of the physics and thats replaced by chemisry which is a piece of piss .Good oul Morto what a legend that man is!!!

Pet · 12-10-2005 5:46pm

Ooh, I know what that is!! It's that super low-density aerogel, isn't it deadly!? And it's a colloid too..

ApeXaviour · 13-10-2005 10:30am

Just as a reminder..

19.30 tonight! reception in IAMS with FREE REFRESHMENTS
In the conferance room (ground floor directly behind the stairs afaik).
all welcome (we might goad you into joining however)

13-10-2005 10:33am

Why didn't I get my email...I joined 'n' all.

Nietzschean · 13-10-2005 10:36am

blame gordo...all his fault

JackKelly · 14-10-2005 10:10am

how was it? Couldn't go, was too sick.

ApeXaviour · 14-10-2005 12:45pm

A piece of advice, do not mix grape and grain on an empty stomach. Ouch my head. Ah no gordo (aka dear leader) is leg. And I've apparently been elected physoc rep for JS, how that happened I am unsure. Especially since I only know five JS physics students by name and face, including myself.

TimAy wrote:

how was it? Couldn't go, was too sick.

Excellent, got Dr Finch into his usual flurry as a bunch of us explained to him the wonders of mp3 players.. The man is a legend!

Drank the place dry.

Then moved onto the pav where numerous units of alcohol were consumed. Banter about religion, death, Kim Jong-il and pirate talk. Of course all in a silly take the piss way. I think. I was a bit drunk so maybe they were laughing at me and not with me. Meh

Pet · 14-10-2005 10:11pm

I saw him on the luas and I wanted to ask him for his autograph. He is quite the legend.

"Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons, Two electrons"

That sounds like Radiohead song.

pseudonym · 16-10-2005 10:31pm

is this communications / careers thing for real? Or did I hallucinate it whatever day it was on? I had to look down and take deep breaths to stop myself bursting into hysterical laughter.

And then people started asking questions and using words like "nebulous", which she then added to her list of buzzwords, like "flexibility" and crap like that.

It was so funny.

And we have to split up into groups, and fill out career notebooks and do projects, its like CSPE all over again.

Did anybody else find it hilarious when those left standing up after the first question started looking around self consciously? Ah brilliant.

cuckoo · 18-10-2005 8:35pm

pseudonym wrote:

Did anybody else find it hilarious when those left standing up after the first question started looking around self consciously? Ah brilliant.

it was a bit embarassing when i realised the rest of you were a load of slackers who hadn't given their future much thought at all.

i like the careers thing - it's 3.5% of the year. remember, this is the year that half the class fail without the wonderful safety net of supplementals, i'm clinging to any marks i can get.

on another topic, i enjoyed shvets stuff about antartic expeditions and pictures of structures yesterday, but wtf was going on with the reciprocal vector things today?

ApeXaviour · 18-10-2005 9:10pm

pseudonym wrote:

And then people started asking questions and using words like "nebulous",

You mean Oisin. Yeah oisin has had a year to script everything he's going to ask in each lecture. I'm sure he has done countless such scenarios in role-playing games he's made up himself.

pseudonym wrote:

It was so funny.

And we have to split up into groups, and fill out career notebooks and do projects, its like CSPE all over again.

Just wait til Dennis Weaire comes along on and shows us all how to make a powerpoint presentation. He'll even go into what sort of language we should use. You'll love it.. in the same way you love sitting in a completely grey room for 10 hours with a loud repetitive beep going off and a sprinkler spraying in your face.

Cuckoo wrote:

it was a bit embarassing when i realised the rest of you were a load of slackers who hadn't given their future much thought at all.

Oh yeah.. forgot you were Oisin's sidekick in this debacle

Ah.. I found the lecture annoying, but for a different reason. Already know what I wanna do, gotta concentrate now on getting the grades to acquire said direction. So kinda wanna concentrate on that for the mo if you don't mind nice careers people...

Cuckoo wrote:

i like the careers thing - it's 3.5% of the year. remember, this is the year that half the class fail without the wonderful safety net of supplementals, i'm clinging to any marks i can get.

Here here, I'll grin and bare it... tis a tough ol year anyhow without starting out -3.5%. Last year it wasn't worth any marks yet was "mandatory". Riiight...
Have to say though pseudonym, even if you get nothing from it. Just do what's been prescribed, might be the difference between a grade for ya. And for what? A couple piece of piss questions and a booklet to fill out etc.

I'll give credit where credit's due though, the Careers Guidance people are fantastic when you go to see them. When they come to see you however and bump in on your academic life tis a bit annoying so I can very much understand pseudo's attitude.

Cuckoo wrote:

on another topic, i enjoyed shvets stuff about antartic expeditions and pictures of structures yesterday, but wtf was going on with the reciprocal vector things today?

haha didn't I warn yis. Ah no crystal structure is relatively handy otherwise. He explained it better this year than last year. Grab a book and look up reciprocal lattices, they're not so bad.

Also hey people, come on lets get some traffic into the forum in www.duphysoc.org come onnnn!! You don't need to be a member to post, just register a handle and post away!

Nietzschean · 18-10-2005 11:24pm

looks rather dead....

ApeXaviour · 19-10-2005 8:51am

Serenity wrote:

looks rather dead....

the website forum? Em, yeah hence the reason I'm trying to get traffic there..

Physics Thread

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