Cousin Throckmorton
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About
Cousin Throckmorton, aka Throcky, refers to a fictional character who appeared in a physics textbook word problem. In the problem, "Cousin Throckmorton" is a skateboarder, and the student is tasked with discovering the speed at which he descends a ramp and the force acting on him at the bottom of his descent. Once a Twitter user posted a screenshot of the question, it spread on social media, with people making jokes about Cousin Throckmorton, the skateboarder.
Origin
On October 10th, 2017, Twitter user @ChibsArts[1] posted a screenshot of the physics textbook University Physics with Modern Physics by Hugh. D. Young and Roger Freedman, asking a question about "Throckmorton," "your cousin" who skateboards. The post gained over 18,000 retweets and 53,000 likes (shown below). The full question is:
Your cousin Throckmorton skateboards from rest down a curved, frictionless ramp. If we treat Throcky and his skateboard as a particle, he moves through a quarter-circle with radius R=A00m (Fig. 7.9). Throcky and his skateboard have a total mass of 25.0 kg (a) Find his speed at the bottom of the ramp. (b) Find the normal force that acts on him at the bottom of the curve.
Name Origins
On January 20th, 2018, one of the textbook's authors Roger Freeman tweeted[4] that the name "Throckmorton" comes from a character on the classic radio show The Great Gildersleeve[5] (shown below).
Spread
The post spread primarily on Tumblr after it was initially posted. Tumblr user teathattast[2] posted a screenshot of ChibsArts tweet on November 9th, 2017, gaining over 414,000 notes (shown below, left). From there "Cousin Throckmorton" has appeared in a number of Tumblr posts. For example, he was referenced in a popular post by user incessantlyphlegmatic[3] commenting on a picture of a skate bowl on fire (shown below, right).
Other popular posts include a post by 221cbakerstreet who commented upon a picture of a teen riding a skateboard saying it was "Throckmorton" (shown below, left). User babashookbitch posted a parody of the Rocky Horror Picture Show poster parody, gaining over 400 notes[3] (shown below, right).
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[2] Tumblr – Teathattast
[3] Tumblr- kaijuno's Post
[4] Twitter – @RogerFreedman's Tweet
[5] The Great Gildersleeve – greatgildersleeve.com
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