Subscribe by EmailPhysics Geeks: I dare you to get this tattooed on your back!
May 25, 2009 by Geeks are Sexy | 8 comments
This tattoo is made from 3 lines of equations: the first represents the Born Oppenheimer Approximation, the second is the equation in the form of a 3-dimensional Schroedinger Equation, and finally, the third is the solution in the form of a Schroedinger Equation.
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I’d go with something smaller like E=MC2! At least the tattooist putting it on my back would probably get it right.
Was this checked for errors?
//bob
Pfft, i’d have gone with one of Maxwell’s equations, or Newton’s. Not too obscure, but not too mainstream either. Plus, people from different disciplines would be able to recognise it. I’m an engineering major and i have only a vague idea who Born or Oppenheimer are, talk less of their equations
I have nothing but respect for that man.
Wonder how many musicians have their favourite songs on their back?
not to be nitpicky, but the first line actually contains no approximation and is the full Hamiltonian for the system. it’s the second line, where one assumes that you can separate the motion of the electrons (which are moving fast) from the motion of the nucleons (which are moving slow compared to the electrons), that the Born Oppenheimer approximation comes into play.
Love it!
I love the nerd ink.
there is only one typo i found. There is a missing minus sign in the second term of the second equation. But seriously. I’m a condensed matter guy and even i think the BO approx isn’t worth a tattoo. I mean Bloch’s theorem, Fermi liquid theory, BCS… there are so many profound pieces of physics in condensed matter. But “the atoms are heavy” isn’t really profound.
bio geeks: i’m a big fan of the axis vertebre. it allows you to move your head left to right… ah, what would we do without you?
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