this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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The probability of interaction between a nuclei and a particle is called a "barn" - because its a bit like shooting the broad side of a barn.
Its a standard Sci unit, too, so real actual papers will use "megabarn" as a real unit of measure.
Its subunit is called a "shed", because physicists don't get out enough.
As far as physics stuff goes, I think this is far preferable to using someone's name.
I dunno. Consider that the first derivative of position is velocity, and second is acceleration... third is jerk... and then they go snap, crackle, and pop.
Yeah not great. But I think the worst is naming after a person. You can be brilliant, but if you haven't studied physics you'll have no idea whatsoever what, say, "Berry phase" means. But the other term for that phenomenon
"geometric phase"
gives some information as to what it is. A clever mathematician, never having studied physics in depth, would be able to at least have some idea as to what it means.
The fun ones sound right by accident. There's a mathematical transform central to modern radiology, helpfully discovered by one Dr. Radon. The fuzzy rings in diffraction-limited telescopes are named after Sir Airy. Dove prisms, resembling a dovetail joint, are pronounced doh-vay.
Don't forget the Poynting vector!