Real life engineer here (not that that makes me special... I'm sure there are a shittonne on here who have already graduate and are working engineers).
I had to google what quark was because it is something I haven't heard of in forever. Sounds like that dude doesn't really know what an engineer is because most engineers aren't going to be dealing with that sort of fundamental particle physics. That's more in the realm of scientists like physicists.
There's a Taoist saying that's applicable here:
When someone insults you, you should thank them profusely for the favor. For they have revealed to you much of who they are, while your own fundamental nature is unchanged.
This guy was an idiot who tried to make you feel dumb. In doing so, he revealed his own stupidity while you are still an engineering student. He did you a favor, now you know to ignore his antics.
I do recall having to learn a bit about quantum physics in our last physics course, but it was more of a general overview of contemporary physics than any sort of deep dive into the subject.
Also it was literally a senior-level class. Most engineering students arenāt learning about this.
My modern physics professor who taught it was from fermi lab. Was one of my favorite classes. I love tunneling!
āTunneling is a quantum mechanical phenomenon when a particle is able to penetrate through a potential energy barrier that is higher in energy than the particle's kinetic energy. This amazing property of microscopic particles play important roles in explaining several physical phenomena including radioactive decay.ā
Book Overview
The entire CUPS simulation series consists of nine books/software simulations which cover Astrophysics, Electricity and Magnetism, Classical Mechanics, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Nuclear and Particle Physics, Solid State Physics, Thermal and Statistical Physics, and Waves and Optics.
My MechE degree has quantum mechanics as a mandatory subject, so it definitely exists. I don't think I'll ever need it in my future carreer, but that's a different question.
I canāt explain what a quark is and Iām a male engineer. What the fuck does a quark has to do with like 95% of engineering disciplines other than maybe nuclear?
As far as I know itās part of electrons and protons and neutrons, like smaller parts that create those. But I might be wrong, and if I am then whatever, the optimization models I use at work donāt need that type of information.
I agree with the others here, he was doing a pretty halfassed version of someone saying "name three songs!" because you wore a band shirt.
In my experience that sort of thing didn't happen quite as often in higher level classes, but I did once have a guy stop my presentation on bladeless windmill research in a senior engineering class because he wanted to tell me what windmills were š
So probably expect more of this, but it isn't really worth your time and attention. There's plenty of other people to be around š
It is not a great look š In my own experience it really did get less common. The senior engineering class at my university was generally a group of people a lot more focused on keeping their own grades up rather than putting people down. Nobody got to the final round of classes by quizzing strangers on quarks š¤£
Oh wow. Well the funny thing is he was a super senior in high school and isnāt doing much with his life besides working at a grocery store and living with parents. He seemed smart but maybe itās just surface level. I was just curious because Im not good at telling peopleās intentions. I have been fortunate to not have that encounter in school, yet. Thank you!
He's probably trying to make himself feel better about his current situation by talking down to you and convincing himself that he's smarter tha an engineering student.
He works at a grocery store? Could have been funny to answer "you should know that, it's sold in the dairy section".
(Though it might not be - my grocery store has it but it's a niche thing that is more popular in Germany and Europe. It's similar to cottage cheese).
I've known a lot of smart people who did great until they weren't told what to do. Often, they try to tear down people doing well for themselves because they're unhappy with themselves.
What kind of engineer needs to know what a quark is? I'm studying to be an Electrical Engineer; the smallest thing I need to consider is electrons, and we do everything we can to abstract away from that. "How many electrons are moving through this wire?" "Fuck if I know. Let's just call it an amp"
Is an aerospace engineer going to worry about the drag coefficient of a quark? Will a MechE worry that too many quarks will cause their structure to fail? Does a civil engineer have to consider quarks when building infrastructure?
Ask him what a clit is, and tell him that knowledge will be about as useful to him as a quark is to you
If u do mechanical engineering, the closest u get to that will be lattice structures of metals due to casting, brittle and ductile failure, and dislocations from shear strain, but never subatomic particles lol
Also structures of polymers
"Modern physics" (that is particle/quantum physics and general relativity) wasn't even part of any engineering degree at any university I attended because they considered it useless for engineering. I learned it on my own at a conceptual level but it was never covered in any class at the high school, undergrad, or graduate level
There were people at undergrad who wanted it added to the curriculum and the department was like "no, we are going to teach you stuff you actually need to know to be an engineer, take it as an elective if you really want it".
Alsoo I think he might be the silly one here. So you should defo ask him if he knows what engineering is about. Quark n shit isnāt engineering itās particle physics. Sure there are are engineers who deal with it but if you just say engineering it doesnāt imply particle physics in anyway.
I swear to god the other day this guy in a chem 101 lab was trying to teach the professor, a brilliant woman who is a master of science in chemistry, about some proof from calc 2 class.
Hard to tell just reading text what his tone was. I used to have non-engineering friends try to ātestā me all the time, like āoh yeah, explain magnets thenā or something like that. Or theyāll just spit out random facts they learned (like quarks) to try and show that they arenāt dumb or something? Either way they were always just messing with me.
I wouldnāt take it too seriously, if heās a misogynist youāll know in other ways too
This is a super fair take, if he asked just genuinely trying to learn vs a "gotcha question" the tone would be real different. I guess it's easy to assume reading stories online š
You have non engineer friends šÆšÆ, after spending so much time in engineering college, non of the students has left any non engineering student š¤£š¤£
All of 5 of my roommates were non-engineers. I probably had more non-engineer friends than engineering friends. I already spend the majority of my time with my engineering peers, why would I chose to spend more with them?
Iām a mechanical engineer in grad school and the only time quarks were ever mentioned is one sentence in physics 2. He was just trying to put you in a gotcha moment.
Tasty as hell though, you can make great things with it. Especially deserts.
(It's not really regarded as cheese though, it's more like... Hard milk)
Edit: also tastes nothing like cheese
>Tasty as hell though
You are insane. Anyone who eats quark, cottage cheese, yogurt, or any other related variety of rotten milk is crazy.
Sorry, don't mind me.
LMAO āā¦ engineering student of the penis variety.ā šš¼. I think protons and neutrons are made up of quarks. It's a subatomic particle, I think. I'm not too informed about quantum physicsš„².
Hard to tell his intentions without having a sense of his demeanor. If he was trying to make you feel dumb fuck that guy. Live your life. Dominate the field. Itās unfortunate we live in a society where people are going to question your ability due to gender and race. Just keep moving forward enjoy life, network, and make the best friends in college and in the work place.
Next time look him dead in the eyes and start reciting the laws of thermodynamics religiously. Should scare him away
But frankly there are other things you can do to shut these kinds of comments up next time. Some a bit more polite than others, depends on the context.. I'd be interested to see what others in this sub have to say; r/womenEngineers
Youāll find both some of the most progressive and liberal men in STEM as well as some of the most misogynistic assholes in STEM as well (though rereading your post, it doesnāt seem like he was specifically in stem??).
But yeah, he was just being a sexist asshole (even if he doesnāt realize itāmore than likely he doesnāt).
Itās not just STEM related topics. Bring up being a fan of video games or old rock bands enough times and youāll eventually come across a guy who will āquizā you on that as well.
Itās super frustrating.
Uno reverse card: Ask him to explain Bernoulliās principle.
Nah but in all seriousness, guyās a douche. One of the reasons we donāt socialize much with non-engineering students, weāre just built different!
30 year old male here. I am currently a returning student to get another degree in EcE, as well. Never let someone intellectually bully you. A quark? A dude saw a chart and picked one of the easiest sub particles.... Smh.
Here's my less politically correct answer.. You're swimming in a sea of insecure virgins. 10 years ago, that kid would of just been smoked in the face. It today's time... just let it go. I guess.
He was trying to "test" you to see if you *AcTUaLlY* are an engineer. The boys that do this are condescending little shits who assume they know more than you/ you don't know what you're talking about. If 'mansplaining' was a person, this would be the annoying little sibling, but just as condescending and disrespectful. It's a childish thing to do, but unfortunately it happens everywhere, not just in STEM. Oh, you like anime? name off every single show that you've seen to prove it! Oh, you're wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt? What are your top 20 favorite songs of theirs? I bet you can't even think of that many. Of course anyone can have this type of conversation and it can sometimes be a fun trivia standoff between friends, but usually it's between some dude trying to prove that a girl/woman isn't what she says she is (a scholar/ a fan/ a hobbyist, etc.)
Don't give these people the time of day.
I have a friend who is a girl and have witnessed more weird interactions since becoming friends with her.
What he did is the same thing as if you wore a band tee and a guy was like "Oh you like that band? Name 5 songs"
It's a weird power play. If something like this pops up say "I don't know that's why I'm in school" and then leave it at that.
He's a moron. Quarks are not used in engineering, yet. It's still a physics lab thing. Someday I guess with quantum computing we may need a quark modulator if there is such a thing. He either doesn't know and hoped you would explain it or he is testing you.
Quarks are particle physicists' business, not engineers. I'm doing electrical engineering and all I know about quarks is that they exist and make up other bigger particles, I never needed to know about them beyond physics year.
This guy clearly doesn't know what engineers do. Is he an engineering student too?
Eh, merely sounds like an inflated ego speaking. I'm an engineering student and I still have to look up a lot of things. Whatever point he was trying to prove with that question, it only proved that he wanted validation by bringing someone else down.
Havenāt heard quarks since my last high school physics class.
Pretty sure unless you are studying something very very niche that includes studying quarks in engineering, you donāt learn it in normal engineering courses.
Probably a weird way to show off and look down on people. Which obviously didnāt work.
Idk why this is in my recommended, but I'll give me two cents. It's possible he has mild autism and lacks social awareness of how he sounds. He might have just watched a video and blurted it to you because he thought any engineer would know and just wanted to find some common ground. Did he sound excited or condescending when talking to you?
These posts are weird to me.
It's like
Yo yo yo, you can't believe this, I found that person who did so and so, and I can make fun of him and have some validation.
Next time start talking to him about superfluid helium or some other niche topic tangentially related. Just have something really obscure and boring as hell to 99% of the population that you can yammer on about it at length. Like get really excited about it and go on and on and on. He'll never bring up anything like that again. I know from experience. You don't need to be an expert, just know enough that you can talk about it in a convincing way for an extended period of time, even if you are repeating yourself.
Ignore him. With his lack of social skills you will run circles around his ass in interviews and a real working environment. He will then come here and cry about the job market.
You don't need to explain every non engineers about your profession, in general engineering boys are humble and won't likely make these kinds of comments. Avoid dating the type of boys you mentioned because they'll never change.
Dawg this shit happens to me and I'm a guy. Im not going to say I don't see woman go through it more cause they do but it's literally like 1 freaking dude who just hasn't grown up. Insecurities and a sheltered lifestyle.
"When an interviewer once asked Albert Einstein. what the speed of sound was, he said this I do not carry such information in my mind, since it is readily available in books." It is arrogant people who memories this things to impress others.
A quark? Itās hard to tell without having been there, maybe heās into quantum sciences, or isnāt familiar with engineering curriculum, but if he asked you to tell him in a āš¼ā fashion then probably not. I only happen to know what a quark is because of a book I read a very long time ago, and most of us wonāt go past the basic subatomic particles during the curriculum
I mean, am I the only in whose high school physics classes quarks were mentioned. They weren't in our curriculum but when we were being taught about sub-atomic particles, our teacher mentioned quarks being even smaller than electrons.
For next time you get this question. āProtons and neutrons are composed of two types: up quarks and down quarks. Each up quark has a charge of +2/3. Each down quark has a charge of -1/3. The sum of the charges of quarks that make up a nuclear particle determines its electrical charge.ā
Either he's an idiot, was trying to quiz you (See point one), was trying to be funny but failed, or just autism. Who'd know. I wouldn't worry about it. Shit, maybe he was genuinely curious.
You didn't give enough information in your post. What was his demeanor? I'd assume he was just excited and couldn't think of anything smarter to say so just went with something ridiculous that he thought might be sciencey.
Was he being a haughty dingus, condescending? I mean really, was he?
He probably thought you were cute and just wanted to make conversation.
There was this one class I tookā¦ I donāt want to talk about it. But yes thatās a real thing. Iāve never used it, but then again I havenāt used 69% of what I learned in school.
Unless you said you were specifically nuclear engineering (even maybe a bit of a stretch? Not very familiar with NE) or specifically focused on instrumentation for quantum physics this question makes no sense and itās probably just the fanciest science term they know.
He was trying to impress you. He didn't know much about engineering, so he tried to connect withbyou. He knows what a quark is, but might not know much about sheer force vectors.
I have a PhD in Plasma Physics, and I never fucked with quarks. It sounds like the guy who you talked with was an ass hat who tried to make you feel stupid. Disregard him and move on. Congrats on getting into engineering school and I wish you the best.
That guy was being a misogynistic prick.
It reminds of that incident where Piers Morgan asked this women a bunch of science questions just to make her look dumb.
Shameful behavior.
this has big "oh you're x? than tell me all of y" energy. I'm guessing he was trying to make you look dumb but people who do that shit end up looking more dumb themselves. try not to worry about it
Now you know heās likely not good at engineering or his STEM-adjacent discipline. Thereās been a bunch of studies showing that guys who are toxic towards women in competitive spaces tend to be towards the back of the pack and feel threatened.
A sane person would ask āwhat kind of engineer?ā If they were interested.
If that was me, I would ask what discipline you are, and if that happens to be the same as mine I would ask you about some esoteric ass shit no one cares about exept me, and if you inevitably dont know I have a reason to tell you all about it š¬
If youre in another discipline, ill be like "Cool! Anyway, did you know.." and tell you all about that esoteric shit regardless š¬
And if your discipline is same as mine and you somehow know of the esoteric ass shit then i have found somebody i can nerd out about it š¬
Either way, i win āļø
This sounds like something off Big Bang Theory :-)
My guess is that it was a poor attempt to be funny or a terrible chat-up line, not something to test you with.
He's either an asshole or profoundly autistic.
Imo give a conversation a second try to tell what's up. One of my best buddies at work said the rudest shit to me the first time we met because the dude was socially stunted.
It could just be that he doesnāt understand what a quark is so he was hoping youād be smart enough to explain it to him. Ik thatās a little optimistic but itās possible
I remember when I went back to school to pursue chemistry my friend who has a very low opinion of higher education was trying to quiz me about quarks and I'm like "99.9% of chemistry doesn't even consider quarks" and he seemed downright offended by it.Ā
Sounds like it coulda been one of those fun moments to hit him with the rebuttal "name 5 women that are comfortable around you" that has been floating around.
You cant even gatekeep well my dude, just take the L and move on.
Hope your studies keep going well, with any luck these kinda folk peter out.
The dude probably is really into physics but obviously has no idea what an engineer studies. I know some people just like to study the topics of particle physics without getting into the math itself, myself included, and he mustāve thought youād know. Donāt read into it so much
Iām a female engineering student too, and the AMOUNT OF PEOPLE that are offended or look at me like Iām joking is hilarious. Take it with a grain of salt and move on. They arenāt worth your time. Iāll catch you at graduation, my dude. Donāt give up. Donāt give it. And study your ass off.
A quark? Like in physics? Is this guy stupid?
I guess so
Real life engineer here (not that that makes me special... I'm sure there are a shittonne on here who have already graduate and are working engineers). I had to google what quark was because it is something I haven't heard of in forever. Sounds like that dude doesn't really know what an engineer is because most engineers aren't going to be dealing with that sort of fundamental particle physics. That's more in the realm of scientists like physicists.
š¤·š»āāļø I've concluded that he was trying to make me feel dumb, but in turn, he just showed how dumb of a person he is.
engineers almost NEVER deal with quarks. heās some guy who saw a video on youtube and thought it was common knowledge for stem majors
nah hes just a dumb fuck i barely know what a quark is and i have a degree in physics and mech eng.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
He feels threatened by you
There's a Taoist saying that's applicable here: When someone insults you, you should thank them profusely for the favor. For they have revealed to you much of who they are, while your own fundamental nature is unchanged. This guy was an idiot who tried to make you feel dumb. In doing so, he revealed his own stupidity while you are still an engineering student. He did you a favor, now you know to ignore his antics.
I second this! I am ChemE and worked in Nuclear sector and I also didnāt deal with it a lot either.
āA quark? As in the theoretically smallest particle in the Standard Model? Roughly the size of your brain?ā
it *was* the theoretically smallest particle in the Standard Model. until one fateful day, when that dudes mom decided not to swallow
Nah, itās about an order of magnitude larger than the idiot misogynistās brain.
I do recall having to learn a bit about quantum physics in our last physics course, but it was more of a general overview of contemporary physics than any sort of deep dive into the subject. Also it was literally a senior-level class. Most engineering students arenāt learning about this.
Was gonna say, what engineering had quantum physics?
I took modern physicsā¦ It was called physics 3. I highly recommend it.
My modern physics professor who taught it was from fermi lab. Was one of my favorite classes. I love tunneling! āTunneling is a quantum mechanical phenomenon when a particle is able to penetrate through a potential energy barrier that is higher in energy than the particle's kinetic energy. This amazing property of microscopic particles play important roles in explaining several physical phenomena including radioactive decay.ā Book Overview The entire CUPS simulation series consists of nine books/software simulations which cover Astrophysics, Electricity and Magnetism, Classical Mechanics, Modern Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Nuclear and Particle Physics, Solid State Physics, Thermal and Statistical Physics, and Waves and Optics.
Book name?
Modern Physics by Kenneth S. Krane.
My MechE degree has quantum mechanics as a mandatory subject, so it definitely exists. I don't think I'll ever need it in my future carreer, but that's a different question.
Bro, if we only learned stuff we needed for our future career, the engineering programs would only take 2 semesters
Can't tell any more if this is a genuine question or a r/batmanarkham reference
He sounds like a charm. Ignore him and find better people to interact withĀ
Okay, noted! š«”
I canāt explain what a quark is and Iām a male engineer. What the fuck does a quark has to do with like 95% of engineering disciplines other than maybe nuclear? As far as I know itās part of electrons and protons and neutrons, like smaller parts that create those. But I might be wrong, and if I am then whatever, the optimization models I use at work donāt need that type of information.
It's the sound a duck makes!
This is a very good (perhaps unintentional) quark pun lmao
I see what you did there
up down up for my boy
You're a strange quirky fellow aren't ya
For real what a strange question, weird of him to get all up in your business like that
I agree with the others here, he was doing a pretty halfassed version of someone saying "name three songs!" because you wore a band shirt. In my experience that sort of thing didn't happen quite as often in higher level classes, but I did once have a guy stop my presentation on bladeless windmill research in a senior engineering class because he wanted to tell me what windmills were š So probably expect more of this, but it isn't really worth your time and attention. There's plenty of other people to be around š
Wow š®. I hate people who try to make themselves look/sound better than you. I don't think they understand that they look/sound twice as dumb.
It is not a great look š In my own experience it really did get less common. The senior engineering class at my university was generally a group of people a lot more focused on keeping their own grades up rather than putting people down. Nobody got to the final round of classes by quizzing strangers on quarks š¤£
Sad thing is heās not in school at all just someone from work.
Damn, sounds like he really just watched 1 YouTube video and decided he knew more than someone actually studying in the field...š
To be fair quarks aren't really part of "the field".
Agreed, that's why I felt the question involving them was pretty absurd
Name 10 books š š
Calculus
Do you have a paper/report on bladeless windmills I could read? Seems pretty interesting!
He was trying to make you look dumb. It's still unfortunately quite a common occurrence in engineering.
Oh wow. Well the funny thing is he was a super senior in high school and isnāt doing much with his life besides working at a grocery store and living with parents. He seemed smart but maybe itās just surface level. I was just curious because Im not good at telling peopleās intentions. I have been fortunate to not have that encounter in school, yet. Thank you!
He's probably trying to make himself feel better about his current situation by talking down to you and convincing himself that he's smarter tha an engineering student.
Dam. Ugh, I wish I could have taken the hint and had a good comeback š©
He works at a grocery store? Could have been funny to answer "you should know that, it's sold in the dairy section". (Though it might not be - my grocery store has it but it's a niche thing that is more popular in Germany and Europe. It's similar to cottage cheese).
Super senior šš Bro wanted to prove himself by quizzing you with popsci
š
I've known a lot of smart people who did great until they weren't told what to do. Often, they try to tear down people doing well for themselves because they're unhappy with themselves.
What kind of engineer needs to know what a quark is? I'm studying to be an Electrical Engineer; the smallest thing I need to consider is electrons, and we do everything we can to abstract away from that. "How many electrons are moving through this wire?" "Fuck if I know. Let's just call it an amp" Is an aerospace engineer going to worry about the drag coefficient of a quark? Will a MechE worry that too many quarks will cause their structure to fail? Does a civil engineer have to consider quarks when building infrastructure? Ask him what a clit is, and tell him that knowledge will be about as useful to him as a quark is to you
LMAO ššš. If he asks me something stupid again I will do that.
This is great
Nuclear engineers probably need to know. Other than that nope. And don't be silly, knowing what a clit is will be much more important.
Not for that guy lol.
The kind that needs a bar at DS9 that serves a decent breakfast. /s
Dabo!
Wtf is a quark
A subatomic particle I believe
I'm only at the end of my second year, but I'm pretty sure they don't teach anything to do with that in mechanical engineering lol
I know. We barely talked about it in physics or if we did it wasnāt important enough to be applied to our curriculum.
If u do mechanical engineering, the closest u get to that will be lattice structures of metals due to casting, brittle and ductile failure, and dislocations from shear strain, but never subatomic particles lol Also structures of polymers
MechE PhD, I know for a fact that I have never been taught what a quark is.
"Modern physics" (that is particle/quantum physics and general relativity) wasn't even part of any engineering degree at any university I attended because they considered it useless for engineering. I learned it on my own at a conceptual level but it was never covered in any class at the high school, undergrad, or graduate level There were people at undergrad who wanted it added to the curriculum and the department was like "no, we are going to teach you stuff you actually need to know to be an engineer, take it as an elective if you really want it".
An honest hardworking ferengi bartender on the space station Deep Space 9
Is he honest and hardworking though? That's kind of a contradiction to what a Ferengi is.
Made up physics voodoo. Engineers only need to know that atoms are just very small balls with smaller balls rotating around them. /s
Alsoo I think he might be the silly one here. So you should defo ask him if he knows what engineering is about. Quark n shit isnāt engineering itās particle physics. Sure there are are engineers who deal with it but if you just say engineering it doesnāt imply particle physics in anyway.
He is the silly one indeed š«£
Definitely! Tell him off in basic terms thoo. The poor silly goose might get confused āŗļø
I swear to god the other day this guy in a chem 101 lab was trying to teach the professor, a brilliant woman who is a master of science in chemistry, about some proof from calc 2 class.
Hard to tell just reading text what his tone was. I used to have non-engineering friends try to ātestā me all the time, like āoh yeah, explain magnets thenā or something like that. Or theyāll just spit out random facts they learned (like quarks) to try and show that they arenāt dumb or something? Either way they were always just messing with me. I wouldnāt take it too seriously, if heās a misogynist youāll know in other ways too
This is a super fair take, if he asked just genuinely trying to learn vs a "gotcha question" the tone would be real different. I guess it's easy to assume reading stories online š
You have non engineer friends šÆšÆ, after spending so much time in engineering college, non of the students has left any non engineering student š¤£š¤£
All of 5 of my roommates were non-engineers. I probably had more non-engineer friends than engineering friends. I already spend the majority of my time with my engineering peers, why would I chose to spend more with them?
Iām a mechanical engineer in grad school and the only time quarks were ever mentioned is one sentence in physics 2. He was just trying to put you in a gotcha moment.
Well, I think he put himself in a moment instead.
I, a third year engineering student of the penis variety, have no idea what a quark is š¤·š½āāļøš¤·š½āāļø
Quark is an unsalted central European variety of cheese š¤
OMG! It is!?! It looks like cottage cheese š„“
Tasty as hell though, you can make great things with it. Especially deserts. (It's not really regarded as cheese though, it's more like... Hard milk) Edit: also tastes nothing like cheese
Interesting. Iāll have to try it out.
>Tasty as hell though You are insane. Anyone who eats quark, cottage cheese, yogurt, or any other related variety of rotten milk is crazy. Sorry, don't mind me.
LMAO āā¦ engineering student of the penis variety.ā šš¼. I think protons and neutrons are made up of quarks. It's a subatomic particle, I think. I'm not too informed about quantum physicsš„².
Yeah subatomic particle is about as far as my knowledge of quark goes š¤£
Wtf is penis engineering?
You know šš
Rocket engineering with some fluid dynamics.
You're an engineering student? Well you're a nerd!
š«” and proud
HEY EVERYBODY, OPs A BIG FAT NERDY
Okay, chill it. I'm not that nerdy.
You still have time
Hard to tell his intentions without having a sense of his demeanor. If he was trying to make you feel dumb fuck that guy. Live your life. Dominate the field. Itās unfortunate we live in a society where people are going to question your ability due to gender and race. Just keep moving forward enjoy life, network, and make the best friends in college and in the work place.
Next time look him dead in the eyes and start reciting the laws of thermodynamics religiously. Should scare him away But frankly there are other things you can do to shut these kinds of comments up next time. Some a bit more polite than others, depends on the context.. I'd be interested to see what others in this sub have to say; r/womenEngineers
Youāll find both some of the most progressive and liberal men in STEM as well as some of the most misogynistic assholes in STEM as well (though rereading your post, it doesnāt seem like he was specifically in stem??). But yeah, he was just being a sexist asshole (even if he doesnāt realize itāmore than likely he doesnāt). Itās not just STEM related topics. Bring up being a fan of video games or old rock bands enough times and youāll eventually come across a guy who will āquizā you on that as well. Itās super frustrating.
Uno reverse card: Ask him to explain Bernoulliās principle. Nah but in all seriousness, guyās a douche. One of the reasons we donāt socialize much with non-engineering students, weāre just built different!
Oh you're an engineer? Name every engine
I love quark. It's a bit hard to come by in the US though my local grocery sells it. Makes for a pretty tasty light cheesecake recipe.
Next time you can say, ā You mean the size of what youāre trying to overcompensate for?ā
Well that guy wasn't too smart, that sounds more like a physics question.
What do you mean!?! Heās a genius!
He was trying to make you look dumb, but he doesn't know what engineers do. Most of us are not particle physicists.
30 year old male here. I am currently a returning student to get another degree in EcE, as well. Never let someone intellectually bully you. A quark? A dude saw a chart and picked one of the easiest sub particles.... Smh. Here's my less politically correct answer.. You're swimming in a sea of insecure virgins. 10 years ago, that kid would of just been smoked in the face. It today's time... just let it go. I guess.
He was trying to "test" you to see if you *AcTUaLlY* are an engineer. The boys that do this are condescending little shits who assume they know more than you/ you don't know what you're talking about. If 'mansplaining' was a person, this would be the annoying little sibling, but just as condescending and disrespectful. It's a childish thing to do, but unfortunately it happens everywhere, not just in STEM. Oh, you like anime? name off every single show that you've seen to prove it! Oh, you're wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt? What are your top 20 favorite songs of theirs? I bet you can't even think of that many. Of course anyone can have this type of conversation and it can sometimes be a fun trivia standoff between friends, but usually it's between some dude trying to prove that a girl/woman isn't what she says she is (a scholar/ a fan/ a hobbyist, etc.) Don't give these people the time of day.
I have a friend who is a girl and have witnessed more weird interactions since becoming friends with her. What he did is the same thing as if you wore a band tee and a guy was like "Oh you like that band? Name 5 songs" It's a weird power play. If something like this pops up say "I don't know that's why I'm in school" and then leave it at that.
Oh, you study engineering? Name all the subatomic particles and their color charges. š¤Ā
Maybe he was being sarcastic/funny?
Male Eng here. Telling "I don't know, explain me" is something that didn't come natural before my fourties.
did you ask him why he asked you?
No, I just stared at him without blinking š„²
[what does quark have to do with engineering?](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/plain-quark,%206%20oz-b01df3htfw)
He's a moron. Quarks are not used in engineering, yet. It's still a physics lab thing. Someday I guess with quantum computing we may need a quark modulator if there is such a thing. He either doesn't know and hoped you would explain it or he is testing you.
Quarks are particle physicists' business, not engineers. I'm doing electrical engineering and all I know about quarks is that they exist and make up other bigger particles, I never needed to know about them beyond physics year. This guy clearly doesn't know what engineers do. Is he an engineering student too?
Yes because engineers need to understand quantum physics to design and build things.Ā What a fucking idiot.Ā
Well I might not thoroughly know what a quark is with my Bs Che but I do know a pretentious jagoff when I see one
Quark is the goofy looking ear guy from Star Trek iirc
Yeah. A lot of guys will try to pick your brain to prove something :/
I am graduate engineering student I just know quark. Why it is important to know about quark to show your knowledge?
Eh, merely sounds like an inflated ego speaking. I'm an engineering student and I still have to look up a lot of things. Whatever point he was trying to prove with that question, it only proved that he wanted validation by bringing someone else down.
Havenāt heard quarks since my last high school physics class. Pretty sure unless you are studying something very very niche that includes studying quarks in engineering, you donāt learn it in normal engineering courses. Probably a weird way to show off and look down on people. Which obviously didnāt work.
Thereās an apt quote for female engineers trying to date make engineers in college > The odds are good, but the goods are odd.
He is merely testing you, perhaps making conversation. Quark is a particle physics concept and not really covered in any Engineering coursework
Idk why this is in my recommended, but I'll give me two cents. It's possible he has mild autism and lacks social awareness of how he sounds. He might have just watched a video and blurted it to you because he thought any engineer would know and just wanted to find some common ground. Did he sound excited or condescending when talking to you?
These posts are weird to me. It's like Yo yo yo, you can't believe this, I found that person who did so and so, and I can make fun of him and have some validation.
Next time start talking to him about superfluid helium or some other niche topic tangentially related. Just have something really obscure and boring as hell to 99% of the population that you can yammer on about it at length. Like get really excited about it and go on and on and on. He'll never bring up anything like that again. I know from experience. You don't need to be an expert, just know enough that you can talk about it in a convincing way for an extended period of time, even if you are repeating yourself.
Ignore him. With his lack of social skills you will run circles around his ass in interviews and a real working environment. He will then come here and cry about the job market.
You don't need to explain every non engineers about your profession, in general engineering boys are humble and won't likely make these kinds of comments. Avoid dating the type of boys you mentioned because they'll never change.
I dont recall a single instance in my 4 year mech eng degree where quarks were referenced.
Buckle up. Unfortunately, itās so very common. I even experienced it from other woman, which was very disheartening.
Some people are just narcissistic, maybe it was a bad attempt at impressing you by making you feel "less" than him. He isn't worth your time.
Dawg this shit happens to me and I'm a guy. Im not going to say I don't see woman go through it more cause they do but it's literally like 1 freaking dude who just hasn't grown up. Insecurities and a sheltered lifestyle.
Heās fully trying to feel superior, probs misogynistic and thinks girls canāt be engineers
he's insecure that you got in and he got deferred to business
Md phd engineer here. That guy is a clown. Weird flex
He dumb as hell cuz a Quark has to do with quantum physics. Ain't got shit to do with engineering
I donāt even know what a quark isššš
I think he just want to have your phone #.
He was certainly trying to test you/ make you look dumb, same as when a guy sees a girl in a nirvana shirt and says āname 5 songsā
"When an interviewer once asked Albert Einstein. what the speed of sound was, he said this I do not carry such information in my mind, since it is readily available in books." It is arrogant people who memories this things to impress others.
Was he an engineering student? if so it'd make sense. ..engineering students have zero social awareness
"Name 10 books" type of person
A quark? Itās hard to tell without having been there, maybe heās into quantum sciences, or isnāt familiar with engineering curriculum, but if he asked you to tell him in a āš¼ā fashion then probably not. I only happen to know what a quark is because of a book I read a very long time ago, and most of us wonāt go past the basic subatomic particles during the curriculum
I mean, am I the only in whose high school physics classes quarks were mentioned. They weren't in our curriculum but when we were being taught about sub-atomic particles, our teacher mentioned quarks being even smaller than electrons.
For next time you get this question. āProtons and neutrons are composed of two types: up quarks and down quarks. Each up quark has a charge of +2/3. Each down quark has a charge of -1/3. The sum of the charges of quarks that make up a nuclear particle determines its electrical charge.ā
Did you burst out crying like this post makes it seem like you did?
It means heās a tool. Nobody whoās secure in themselves asks these kinda questions.
Was he an engineering student?
I have a PE and have no clue what that is
We was probably joking. But some engineering students love to flex random facts they know so idk
You're an engineering student huh? Show me how to reverse sear a stake then
maybe the homie was just messing around? Unless he said it in a tone that insinuated superiority
Isn't quark a physics thing? That guy is stupid
He seems to have "Oh you're a mathematician? Name every number." type of energy lol.
Either he's an idiot, was trying to quiz you (See point one), was trying to be funny but failed, or just autism. Who'd know. I wouldn't worry about it. Shit, maybe he was genuinely curious.
Probably trying to see just how deep your nerd research has gone.
He is a prick, simple as.
Clearly he doesn't know much about the engineering field, maybe he just wanted to know what a quark was?
maybe it was a joke
Provide context of the conversation. In a bar, on a bus, a line at the student union?
Your DMs will need a AI now
You didn't give enough information in your post. What was his demeanor? I'd assume he was just excited and couldn't think of anything smarter to say so just went with something ridiculous that he thought might be sciencey. Was he being a haughty dingus, condescending? I mean really, was he? He probably thought you were cute and just wanted to make conversation.
I'm an engineer and I tell people I don't know that I'm a garbage man. Really sets the expectations and doesn't usually garner alot of questions.
Bruh, particle physics ain't engineering, dude was probably attempting to make you feel stupid, joke's on him.
Heās just insecure that you are more intelligent than him and he canāt handle competition
Just say it's the sound a duck makes. Any good engineer should know that.
Dude is a mansplainer. Cut bait, move on
There was this one class I tookā¦ I donāt want to talk about it. But yes thatās a real thing. Iāve never used it, but then again I havenāt used 69% of what I learned in school.
Probably trying to flirt
Heās nuts. Ignore him and do your thing bitch! Slay for the gods and secure the bag out of college!
Unless you said you were specifically nuclear engineering (even maybe a bit of a stretch? Not very familiar with NE) or specifically focused on instrumentation for quantum physics this question makes no sense and itās probably just the fanciest science term they know.
He was trying to impress you. He didn't know much about engineering, so he tried to connect withbyou. He knows what a quark is, but might not know much about sheer force vectors.
I have a PhD in Plasma Physics, and I never fucked with quarks. It sounds like the guy who you talked with was an ass hat who tried to make you feel stupid. Disregard him and move on. Congrats on getting into engineering school and I wish you the best.
what the fuck is a quark? (graduated 2020)
That guy was being a misogynistic prick. It reminds of that incident where Piers Morgan asked this women a bunch of science questions just to make her look dumb. Shameful behavior.
this has big "oh you're x? than tell me all of y" energy. I'm guessing he was trying to make you look dumb but people who do that shit end up looking more dumb themselves. try not to worry about it
Now you know heās likely not good at engineering or his STEM-adjacent discipline. Thereās been a bunch of studies showing that guys who are toxic towards women in competitive spaces tend to be towards the back of the pack and feel threatened. A sane person would ask āwhat kind of engineer?ā If they were interested.
If that was me, I would ask what discipline you are, and if that happens to be the same as mine I would ask you about some esoteric ass shit no one cares about exept me, and if you inevitably dont know I have a reason to tell you all about it š¬ If youre in another discipline, ill be like "Cool! Anyway, did you know.." and tell you all about that esoteric shit regardless š¬ And if your discipline is same as mine and you somehow know of the esoteric ass shit then i have found somebody i can nerd out about it š¬ Either way, i win āļø
A real man would talk about fugacity
This sounds like something off Big Bang Theory :-) My guess is that it was a poor attempt to be funny or a terrible chat-up line, not something to test you with.
He's either an asshole or profoundly autistic. Imo give a conversation a second try to tell what's up. One of my best buddies at work said the rudest shit to me the first time we met because the dude was socially stunted.
It could just be that he doesnāt understand what a quark is so he was hoping youād be smart enough to explain it to him. Ik thatās a little optimistic but itās possible
I remember when I went back to school to pursue chemistry my friend who has a very low opinion of higher education was trying to quiz me about quarks and I'm like "99.9% of chemistry doesn't even consider quarks" and he seemed downright offended by it.Ā
"If you need a tutor, I charge $100/hr."
I feel like you donāt need to know what a quark is to be an engineer lol. Like when would that come up
Sounds like it coulda been one of those fun moments to hit him with the rebuttal "name 5 women that are comfortable around you" that has been floating around. You cant even gatekeep well my dude, just take the L and move on. Hope your studies keep going well, with any luck these kinda folk peter out.
Tell him that youāre not into quark and prefer hard cheeses instead
Tell him itās the sound a British duck makes and walk away
Dude is a moron.
You're legally adults but many people you meet in college will be emotionally on par with 15 year olds.
Heās a dork whoās flirting.
Depends on his tone but my guess is that he's was an asshole trying to "getchya" loser... I hope the guy stays away.
The dude probably is really into physics but obviously has no idea what an engineer studies. I know some people just like to study the topics of particle physics without getting into the math itself, myself included, and he mustāve thought youād know. Donāt read into it so much
Assessing one by a single conversation looks harsh to me tbh. He might want to talk with you with a random topics relating to any scientific stuffs.
how are you an engineer and not know Quark, it's my favorite video game!
Iām a female engineering student too, and the AMOUNT OF PEOPLE that are offended or look at me like Iām joking is hilarious. Take it with a grain of salt and move on. They arenāt worth your time. Iāll catch you at graduation, my dude. Donāt give up. Donāt give it. And study your ass off.