2013-07-08
Explanation
This comic shows a dominatrix-styled physics teacher explaining a concept while a person hangs suspended in bondage gear. She says: "And by suspending your servant along 3 different axes, you can determine its center of mass." Below the panel, a caption reads: "There's a way to get physics students to take notes. You're just not willing to do it."
The joke operates on two levels. First, there is the real physics: one standard method for determining an irregularly shaped object's center of mass is to suspend it from multiple points along different axes and find where the plumb lines intersect. The teacher is describing a legitimate physics technique. Second, the "object" being suspended is a person in a BDSM scenario, and the teacher is dressed as a dominatrix. The comic suggests that if physics lectures incorporated this kind of theatrical presentation, students would suddenly become very attentive and eager to take notes.
The votey shows the dominatrix character saying "Now, let's talk resonance," implying the BDSM-themed physics lesson is continuing to other topics, with the additional innuendo that "resonance" could have suggestive connotations in this context. The comic is a playful jab at the challenge of engaging students in physics education, suggesting that the problem is not that physics is boring but that professors are not willing to go to sufficiently extreme lengths to make it exciting.