Yeah, i remember the physics class where we discussed the trajectory of a satellite kite myself. And then the acid that was smeared all over the blackboard chalk we were touching took several days to wear off.

I know exactly how you feel. I had the same thoughts when I saw this.

Okay, I'm a physics teacher who loves Threadless, but hates all the science/math tees that just get it wrong. It's a pretty shirt, but 1) the x-axis should represent a distance, not time, if you're going to define a wavelength (hence waveLENGTH) and 2) a wavelength is defined as the distance between two identical points of a wave. The section called lambda in this graph is definitely not a wavelength.



Okay, done griping. It IS a pretty shirt.

nonajean, unfortunately this isn't the first time physics has been used in a threadless tee and ..well... not worked right. remember the science of sleep winner with the sheep representing mass? whoops.

still buying it.

Yeah, I was kind of confused by the... not so right physics, but I still like the design. I also got excited because I actually recognized that the physics stuff was wrong. I like it when I can apply things. Haha.

The second point that notajean makes is spot-on. But about the first one: if we're in a unit system where c = 1 (commonly used in relativity), and we assume that the wave's speed is c (suggested by the equation in the lower left), then the wavelength of the wave would be equal to one over its frequency. One over the frequency is the period, which is what the section indicated as "lambda" DOES clearly represent. So it is also the wavelength in this system of units. (One could complain that the quantities marked should not depend on the unit system in use, but since this is a graph that doesn't seem reasonable. It'd make sense to mark the slope of a x-vs.-t line as "v" for example, even though that's only true in the unit system being used.)



Even better than applying physics is applying physics to conceptually rescue pretty shirts! :D