Video Response: Despicable Me
Entry posted by AlphaGeek
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For those of you who don't know, there is a video section of the Aplus site that features videos of physics-y origin. You can get there by clicking the word "videos" on the top blue bar of the site.
http://aplusphysics.com/community/index.php/videos/view-340-vector-despicable-me/
When I first saw this video, it was floating among intense brain-teasing physics vids and real life examples of the science. I thought it deserved some defense for its place on the site, so let me explain what this despicable me mini clip has to do with physics.
The most notable physics-feature of the video is that the geeky character's name is Vector, as he explains both verbally and through body language. A vector quantity is a magnitude with direction. For example, velocity is a vector quantity. A velocity of 3 m/s to the right has both units (meters per second) and direction (to the right). 3 m/s alone, a speed, is not a vector quantity because even though it has units, it does not have a direction. We call this a scalar quantity.
I hope that explains Vectors joke, "I'm committing crimes with both direction and magnitude!" If he were the evil Dr. Scalar, it would only have magnitude. Haha! Ha. Ha... Ha.
...And I didn't notice this before, but when Vector first comes into the scene he crosses his arms while doing the "vulcan salute," which is actually the nerdfighter salute (You know! Vlogbrothers on youtube). I thought that was really cool. I wonder if it wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place, but some nerdy producer put it in 
Not familiar with vlogbrothers? Do acquaint yourself via nerd humor:
...Just for the record, my favorite part of the movie is as follows:
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