#  Physics limericks 

 



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## Introduction to Classical Mechanics

**There are 51 limericks in the book. Below is an index by first line.**

**(Many of the limericks can be found** [**with annotation here**](https://www.physics.harvard.edu/undergrad/limericks)**.)**

There once was a classical theory *(preamble)*

The ad said, For one little fee *(xvi)*

How Fermi could estimate things *(3)*

“Your units are wrong!” cried the teacher *(4)*

Consider, when seeking gestalts *(9)*

The lemmings get set for their race *(11)*

The skill to do math on a page *(13)*

One morning while eating my Wheaties *(28)*

For things moving free or at rest *(52)*

It may seem, with the angst it can bring *(59)*

*a* is *dv* by *dt* *(62)*

What would you have thought, Galileo *(64)*

If a monkey lets go of a tree *(68)*

For equations with one main condition *(103)*

This is our method, essential *(104)*

In Boston, lived Jack as did Jill *(139)*

A potential may look quite erratic *(148)*

Newton looked at the data, numerical *(153)*

When jumping from high in a tree *(221)*

It just stood there and did nothing, of course *(224)*

When walking, I know that my aim *(226)*

As Noether most keenly observed *(237)*

As he walked past the beautiful belle *(285)*

When using potentials, effective *(285)*

Newton said as he gazed off afar *(288)*

As we grow up, we open an ear *(293)*

To calculate *E*, my dear class *(313)*

For conditions that number but three *(326)*

What *L* was, he just couldn’t tell *(333)*

When studying vectors in school *(373)*

Consider the vector of **L** *(379)*

As Einstein explored elevators *(462)*

On a merry-go-round in the night *(466)*

Whether sieged by an army more grand *(475)*

As he pondered the long futile fight *(504)*

The findings of Michelson–Morley *(508)*

Copernicus gave his reply *(510)*

Of the many effects, miscellaneous *(512)*

The effects of dilation of time *(516)*

Relativistic limericks have the attraction *(520)*

Observe that for muons created *(522)*

The excitement will build in your voice *(527)*

For a bullet, a train, and a gun *(530)*

“Potato?! Pot*ah*to!” said she *(534)*

“To three, five, and seven, assign *(588)*

Whether abstract, profound, or just mystic *(589)*

If gamma-*mv* yields frustration *(598)*

They *said*, “*F* is *ma*, bar none.” *(602)*

God said to his cosmos directors *(644)*

Greetings! Dear brother from Boulder *(652)*

God’s first tries were hardly ideal *(695)*