With new classes come new faces, and with new faces, come new rants. This semester shall be no different:
I'm underwhelmed by my chemistry class so far. Today we talked about the model of the atom, the "gold foil experiment", particularly.
The experiment is such: make a thin foil of gold. Shoot alpha particles at it. ... Profit.
Ok, so the result of this famous experiment is that most alpha particles go straight through the foil. A very small amount are actually deflected or even reflected back in the opposite direction. This disproves the previously believed "plum pudding" model of the atom. Some asshole apparently likened all matter to Jello with negatively charged raisins.
Now, the point of this is that shit actually went through the foil, indicating that an atom is not one homogenous (if tasty) blob, but structure of some discrete, dense parts and a whole lotta nothing.
The TEACHER, on the other hand, believes the point of the experiment is "WOWIE ZOWIE, SOME OF THE SHIT BOUNCED BACK!" Now, unless I'm totally off-base here, any doofus who accepts the whole "equal and opposing forces" bit of physics or plays billiards - fuck, if you play *raquetball*, you fitness club yuppie - they will take this statement and properly conclude "so...matter has mass." My chemistry teacher is excited about the part of the experiment where I say I punched a brick of gold and it hurt, ie. it bounced back, my hand did not penetrate gold. This overlooks the other perspective, which to me is more surprising: "...dude, my hand just passed through solid fucking gold."
On the other hand, this is the teacher who yesterday declared that if you turn in the lab sheets without clearing off the little scraps from the spiral-bound lab book, she's going to dock you points. Good to know that my grade this semester won't be based on my mastery of curriculum skills and concepts, but on minimizing the teacher's exposure to inconvenience. I hope there are no papers to write for this class, because if I force her to read for 10 minutes, she'll probably kill my first born child.
I know what you're thinking, but there's only one other chemistry professor, and he's a douchebag too. Side rant: I'm not calling his actions douchebaggery, I'm calling him a douchebag. THAT is namecalling. I totally 'fess up.
Bright part of my day: saw some students with Terror Alert: Dihydrogen Monoxide!! papers. I haven't seen those since high school. That joke is nerd cool.
I'm underwhelmed by my chemistry class so far. Today we talked about the model of the atom, the "gold foil experiment", particularly.
The experiment is such: make a thin foil of gold. Shoot alpha particles at it. ... Profit.
Ok, so the result of this famous experiment is that most alpha particles go straight through the foil. A very small amount are actually deflected or even reflected back in the opposite direction. This disproves the previously believed "plum pudding" model of the atom. Some asshole apparently likened all matter to Jello with negatively charged raisins.
Now, the point of this is that shit actually went through the foil, indicating that an atom is not one homogenous (if tasty) blob, but structure of some discrete, dense parts and a whole lotta nothing.
The TEACHER, on the other hand, believes the point of the experiment is "WOWIE ZOWIE, SOME OF THE SHIT BOUNCED BACK!" Now, unless I'm totally off-base here, any doofus who accepts the whole "equal and opposing forces" bit of physics or plays billiards - fuck, if you play *raquetball*, you fitness club yuppie - they will take this statement and properly conclude "so...matter has mass." My chemistry teacher is excited about the part of the experiment where I say I punched a brick of gold and it hurt, ie. it bounced back, my hand did not penetrate gold. This overlooks the other perspective, which to me is more surprising: "...dude, my hand just passed through solid fucking gold."
On the other hand, this is the teacher who yesterday declared that if you turn in the lab sheets without clearing off the little scraps from the spiral-bound lab book, she's going to dock you points. Good to know that my grade this semester won't be based on my mastery of curriculum skills and concepts, but on minimizing the teacher's exposure to inconvenience. I hope there are no papers to write for this class, because if I force her to read for 10 minutes, she'll probably kill my first born child.
I know what you're thinking, but there's only one other chemistry professor, and he's a douchebag too. Side rant: I'm not calling his actions douchebaggery, I'm calling him a douchebag. THAT is namecalling. I totally 'fess up.
Bright part of my day: saw some students with Terror Alert: Dihydrogen Monoxide!! papers. I haven't seen those since high school. That joke is nerd cool.
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Maybe I can join you with new face rants, come Tuesday.
And OMGZ! Teej Maxx is the best. I don't know how that didn't occur to me; until Friday, I live none too far from it and Marshall's. Thanks for the suggestion!
you should send her love letters on H2O2 paper torn from notebooks, with the fringe attatched, about her purely reflective pendanticism...HoTT!