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Michael Freeman
@afreeparticle.com
23K followers 1.8K following 2.7K posts
High School Physics Teacher. Desmos Fellow. He/him. #iTeachPhysics #EduSky

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Accidentally based Goodyear?
Instagram ad of a cartoon frame of a car’s steering system in black and white on a yellow background with the front wheels turned to the right. Seems to mirror a recent event where a car’s wheels were turned to the right.
January 11, 2026 at 6:25 PM
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#Physics #iTeachPhysics
Picture of white text on black, social media post from user tanadrin And God said, "Behold! I have created the fourth primordial force: the weak interaction!" And the angels all clapped and nodded politely, and there was a long silence; and finally Verchiel, the Angel of Grace, spoke up and asked, "Er, what exactly does it do, O Fashioner?" And God said, "What do you mean, what does it do?" It's the fourth fundamental force of the universe." And Verchiel said, "You mentioned that. Um. But it's just that the other three sort of have a brand, you know? Gravity helps build large-scale structures, acts over vast cosmic distances, shapes time and space. The strong force is secret, hidden, binding together quarks and all that. Electromagnetism, very cool stuff, somewhere in between. We're all big fans of the whole magnetic monopole double bluff, very clever. But, er. What does this 'weak interaction' do?" And God said, "It mediates radioactive decay. Sort of." And Verchiel said, "Radioactive decay? All radioactive decay?" And God said, "No. Just some kinds." And Zephaniel, the Chief of the Ishim spoke, and he said, "A whole independent force just to mediate some kinds of radioactive decay?" And God said, "Well. Not totally independent. Technically it's related to electromagnetism."
December 30, 2025 at 3:19 PM
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🤯 Germany’s 5 biggest cities lie perfectly on a 4th-degree polynomial!

by u/BarisSayit on reddit

#iTeachPhysics #iTeachMath
Desmos screenshot with map of germany, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin all with red dots on them. A 4th degree polynomial is shown with a red line passing through all five cities.
December 21, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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Hanging shelf with balloon
Photograph
Bas Van Wieringen
Netherlands

@basvanwieringen.bsky.social
#iTeachPhysics
Photograph of a wall shelf upside down with a black balloon "resting" on it from below.
December 20, 2025 at 4:51 PM
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Student portrait of me

I can only assume that I have taken the form of a headless body in deep space, halfway between two identical asteroids.

#iTeachPhysics
Drawing on a whiteboard of a head with vectors pointing up and down both labeled mg. Below it says: MR. FREEBODY DIAGRAM
December 19, 2025 at 7:57 PM
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I know it’s a completely different course, but in the states when I’m teaching physics I similarly try to keep it to these three and motion graphs as long as possible before introducing anything else so they can get a solid conceptual understanding first. #iTeachPhysics
Slide with definitions of average velocity, average acceleration and the fact that average velocity is the arithmetic mean of initial and final velocity if acceleration is constant
December 16, 2025 at 9:36 PM
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🧪⚛️🎢🧬🥽A great comedy and science podcast for those who haven’t discovered it. Thank you, Robin!

Reposting with alt text
FROM THE DESK OF ROBIN INCE This is the saddest day of my professional life. Today is not only the final recording of the latest series of The Infinite Monkey Cage, it is my last ever Monkey Cage. I never thought that I would have to leave the show. I always imagined going on until I dropped dead under the studio lights due to a brain aneurysm caused by my final attempt to understand notions of quantum gravity the shock of being told about fly maggot infestations in the sacks of macaque monkeys. However, I resigned back in September, after sixteen years of dedication to the show; a show I named and helped devlop over all those years. Unfortunately, my opinions outside the BBC have been considered problematic for some time, whether it has been voicing support for the trans community, criticism of Donald Trump and numerous other outlandish opinions including once gently criticising Stephen Fry. These things were considered to conflict with being a freelance BBC science presenter. In a recent meeting where BBC Studio executives again voiced problems with me, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices. I chose the latter. It broke my heart. cosmicshambles.com robinince.com patreon.com/cosmicshambles FROM THE DESK OF ROBIN INCE I love this show and I love the audience, and it is because of the audience in particular, that this decision was so difficult to make. I kept thinking about all the extremist voices promoting hate and division. They are being given so many platforms, while voices that represent kindness, open mindedness, empathy seem to be scarcer and scarcer. I felt I couldn't pamper myself with the luxury of silence. One of my many privileges is that I can resign and I can speak out. I have thought a lot about some of my heroes; Sinead O'Connor, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and "orde, so many more. I think of Sinead’s words "The job of an artist is to be themselves at any cost” James Baldwin has said prejudice was really just a word for cowardice. Aegets ete de center life, wrote that her only I think of my father as I resign, he brought me up to believe in fairness, in kindness and in justice. Though my heart is broken, it is also full of fire. apologise to our incredible listeners for my departure, your love of the show means a great deal. I am so sorry to let you down. I hope that you can understand my reasoning. cosmicshambles.com robinince.com patreon.com/cosmicshambles FROM THE DESK OF ROBIN INCE I always worked far more than my contracted hours on Monkey Cage to try and ensure the show was always the best it could be, as well as making myself accessible and responsive to the audience wherever and whenever I met them across the world. Every night we have recorded, I have been filled with determination to make the finest show possible. Monkey Cage was not 'just a job' Despite this, I have to accept that I am not what the current BBC expects of their freelance presenters. I hope that with my departure I can be a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community, to the neurodivergent community, to activists fighting against those who aim to brutalise society, and to all those who fight for a more inclusive world. I know a great many of those people are Monkey Cage listeners too. I will carry on creating with The Cosmic Shambles Network and touring as I have always done. The strawberry is dead. Long live the strawberry. cosmicshambles.com robinince.com patreon.com/cosmicshambles
December 13, 2025 at 12:37 AM
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Not when I throw the book on the ground in disgust #iTeachPhysics
Picture from Newtonian Physics for Babies, with two balls of different size. There are balanced up and down forces on them. Below it says “The force of the ground always equals the force of gravity”
December 4, 2025 at 3:44 PM
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I have a feeling #iTeachMath is going to appreciate this
December 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
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My students get me

#iTeachPhysics
Whiteboard with blue text in dry erase marker: POV: Mr. Freeman sees a kid in the street while driving “Accelerate!”
November 24, 2025 at 8:56 PM
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🎢 Found another relative motion illusion: @femaria on TikTok at nyc marathon
November 22, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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😮
Picture of a turquoise magenta sky behind silhouetted trees in a suburban street.
November 12, 2025 at 2:32 AM
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This year's edition of Rings of Fire!

Students are given initial height and velocity of the launched marble. Each group has to calculate the height of their ring at their assigned horizontal distance.

#EduSky #iTeachPhysics
November 3, 2025 at 11:00 PM
afreeparticle.com
I know AI is everywhere in our lives, but this one really surprised me. I'm uploading my recommendation letters, and Naviance has offered to write my rec letters for me, using just 4 bits of information from me.

The absolute gall to call this "meaningful and personalized"

#EduSky #iTeachPhysics
Screenshot from Naviance: "Get started with your recommendation for [redacted]. To generate a meaningful and personalized recommendation letter, select the information you'd like to highlight. You can also set the tone, level of formality, and your relationship to the student. After you make your suggestions, generate the letter. How formal should this letter be? What tone would you like to set? What's your relationship to the student? Would you like to use bullet points? Upload a template letter.
October 31, 2025 at 12:08 AM
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🎢 find mew
October 29, 2025 at 9:50 AM
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Anyone else see Bernie in my dish towel?
Photo of orange dish towel with a white circular outline in the shape of wheat and food is love written in cursive in the center.
October 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
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🙌
October 22, 2025 at 7:47 PM
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Update: It appears that this question was in fact not thrown out? No scoring commentary yet, but 2 points for a dimensional analysis question in which the dimensions don’t make sense 😑🎢

Link to scoring guideline: apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap...
Picture of text: AP® Environmental Science 2025 Scoring Guidelines G Calculate the energy use in the school building in kilowatts per year using LED light bulbs. Show your work. Point 09 One point for the correct setup to calculate the energy use in the school building in kWh/year using LED light bulbs. Examples of acceptable responses may include the following: • (2.8 × 10* bulbs) x 0.0085 kilowatt x 2,340 hours • (2.8 × 10^4) × 0.0085 × 2,340 One point for the correct calculation of the energy use in the school building in kWh/year using LED light bulbs. Point 10 Examples of acceptable responses may include the following (if units are included in the response, kWh/year or kW/year are accepted): • 556,920 5.6 × 10^5 5.6E5
October 16, 2025 at 8:02 PM
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Thought maybe nobody had made a springs in series and parallel #iTeachPhysics simulation yet, but JavaLab has one here: javalab.org/en/springs_en/
physics simulation of 3 sets of springs, each holding up the same amount of mass. The first is 3 springs in parallel, the second is a single spring, the third is 3 springs in series.
October 15, 2025 at 11:39 PM
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Someone in the comments said "cumulative homesickness"

#iTeachPhysics

Source: Meme for Mathematicians page on fb
Two panel meme: Smiling Margot Robbie as Barbie: Interpreting the area under a velocity-time graph. Sad Margot Robbie as Barbie: Interpreting the area under a displacement-time graph.
September 26, 2025 at 12:19 AM
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What a privilege it is to witness students feel joy in the classroom 🥹

#iTeachPhysics #EduSky
September 22, 2025 at 8:00 PM
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First time teaching this class, and I don't think I came up with this idea (some fuzzy twitter #iTeachPhysics memory), but planning to have them guess the power rule first.
Worksheet titled "Magical Mystery Machine" At the top it reads: Shhhhh…don’t tell your math teacher that I know about this secret information… Mr. Freeman has discovered a magical mystery machine hidden in an old closet near the math department offices. It seems to take functions & turn them into other functions. What seems to be the rule for this operation? What are the missing functions? Below there are 3 columns, with functions in each cell. The titles are : Input Function, 1st Time Through, and 2nd Time Through. Between the columns are Mario Brothers question mark boxes with arrows pointing in and out, indicating the function goes through the box to become the function in the center, then again through the box to become the function on the end.
September 16, 2025 at 11:09 PM
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Starting to question my own sanity making Google Slides...in what way would this have made more sense?
Screenshot from a google slide reading "on the simulation linked in Google Classroom" where "linked in" is underlined in red, with a suggestion to change it to "linkedin" like the social media platform.
September 13, 2025 at 11:17 AM
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Dirac and Heaviside, meet Gauss 🫠

♾️🎢🧮⚛️
Text at the top: Therapist: Gaussian Gauss isn't real! Gaussian Gauss: [Painting of Gauss with Gauss's head reshaped to form a normal distribution]
September 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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Not a ton of perks of this job, but we do get free caricatures

#EduSky #iTeachPhysics
Drawing on a mini-whiteboard, me as a baby saying "goo goo ga ga!" Words below read: Baby Freeman. Drawing on a mini-whiteboard, me as a cat saying "meow" Words above read: Mr. Freemeow
September 6, 2025 at 6:08 PM