One of the many novel and ground-breaking features of Physics for You when it was first published (in 1978) was the use of humour in cartoons, jokes, rhymes and limericks. Here is a selection of Keith Johnson's limericks, designed to illustrate a Physics concept in a humorous way. |
| Basic Ideas | |
| Units In Maths and in Physics a 'k' Means a thousand of whatever you say. For grams and for metres, And even, for teachers, The size of their annual pay. |
Molecules A rather small student called Brown Was asked why he danced up and down, He said "Look you fools, It's the air molecules, They constantly knock me around." |
| Heat | |
| Expansion A railway mechanic was sent To lay down some track across Kent, He forgot to design Some gaps in the line, And when it got hot, it went bent. |
Convection A rather small boy called Maguire, Sat next to a roaring hot fire. Life is full of surprises : He found hot air rises, And he floated up higher and higher. |
| Mechanics | |
| Flotation Long ago Archimedes did shout I have found what it is without doubt, The Upthrust or force Is equal, of course, To the weight of the fluid pushed out. |
Centre of Gravity There was an old teacher called Grace, Who often fell flat on her face. The reason, you see, Was her C of G, Its place was too high for her base. |
| Gravity There was a young man who had heard That a person could fly like a bird. To prove it a lie, He jumped from the sky -His grave gives the date it occurred. |
Momentum A dashing young footballer, Paul, Scored a goal with a one-kilo ball. But a similar kick To a one-kilo brick Made Paul bawl, and then fall, and then crawl. |
| Light | |
| Reflection A tattooist once wrote on my throat A short but mysterious note. And so, to inspect it, I tried to reflect it And found I'd got TAORHT on my throat ! |
Reflection A periscope builder called Fred Fixed two mirrors to the head of his bed. The light was reflected, And so he inspected The hair on the top of his head. |
| Convex mirrors A hairy young student called Raven Used a diverging mirror for shaving. His imaged was diminished, And when he had finished, His shaving looked more like engraving ! |
Short sight A short-sighted teacher called Rose, Confused the optician she chose, And so in her specs, Each lens was convex, And her far point was the end of her nose. |
| Electricity | |
| Wiring A young electrician called Hyde, Learned nothing because of his pride. He got his wires wrong, And before very long He cried - then he sighed - then he died ! |
Fuses A careless young student called Hughes, Once fitted the wrong kind of fuse. This fault caused a wire In his house to catch fire, - His death made the 6 o'clock news ! |
| Motors A designer of lifts, L. E. Vator, Built a motor with no commutator. It turned, with a wheeze, Through just 90 degrees, And trapped between floors its creator. |
Transformers A Grid engineer called Sid, Thought he'd change what he usually did. He very soon found, With transformers changed round, That he melted the National Grid. |
| Radioactivity | Sound |
| Radioactive decay By mistake (in his lunch) Freddy Furze, Ate radium and died with a curse, But the point about Fred, Is that now he is dead, His half-life is sixteen hundred years ! |
Resonance A short-sighted singer called Groat, Could do wonderful things with her throat. At her specs she aimed sound, And with resonance found That they cracked when she sang the right note. |