If I load gunpowder into a cannon based on the current number, such that bigger numbers get more gunpowder and are launched farther, and then I walk the distance and collect the numbers along the way, is this a physics sort?

You can just make holes bigger and bigger, until the [number] will fall in. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKbJ1REQ-EA

My favorite physics sort: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Nz8ssH7LiB0

Haven't thought of /prog/ for a very long while. My favourite post was someone's apprentice programmer inventing the "<=>" operator, for when you want to test for less than or equal to or greater than. Genius!

Then someone submitted <=> to the very serious people at the C++ standards committee, and they went on to ratify it in the standard.