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The surprisingly complicated physics of why cats always land on their feet:
Scientists are not immune to the alluringly aloof charms of the domestic cat. Sure, Erwin Schrödinger could be accused of animal cruelty for his famous thought experiment, but Edwin Hubble had a cat named Copernicus, who sprawled across the papers on the astronomer's desk as he worked, purring contentedly. A Siamese cat named Chester was even listed as co-author (F.D.C. Willard) with physicist Jack H. Hetherington on a low-temperature physics paper in 1975, published in Physical Review Letters. So perhaps it's not surprising that there is a long, rich history, spanning some 300 years, of scientists pondering the mystery of how a falling cat somehow always manages to land on their feet, a phenomenon known as "cat-turning."
"The falling cat is often sort of a sideline area in research," physicist and cat lover Greg Gbur told Ars. "Cats have a reputation for being mischievous and well-represented in the history. The cats just sort of pop in where you least expect them. They manage to cause a lot of trouble in the history of science, as well as in my personal science. I often say that cats are cleverer than we think, but less clever than they think." A professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Gbur gives a lively, entertaining account of that history in his recent book, Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.
Over the centuries, scientists offered four distinct hypotheses to explain the phenomenon. There is the original "tuck and turn" model, in which the cat pulls in one set of paws so it can rotate different sections of its body. Nineteenth century physicist James Clerk Maxwell offered a "falling figure skater" explanation, whereby the cat tweaks its angular momentum by pulling in or extending its paws as needed. Then there is the "bend and twist" (not to be confused with the "bend and snap" maneuver immortalized in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde), in which the cat bends at the waist to counter-rotate the two segments of its body. Finally, there is the "propeller tail," in which the cat can reverse its body's rotation by rotating its tail in one direction like a propeller. A cat most likely employs some aspects of all these as it falls, according to Gbur.
Gbur is quick to offer a cautionary word of advice to anyone considering their own feline experiments: "Please don't drop your cats!"—even in the name of science. Ars sat down with Gbur to learn more about this surprisingly prolific area of research.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @07:58PM (3 children)
Butter the cat's backside then it lands on its back.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday December 30 2019, @12:08AM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8yW5cyXXRc [youtube.com]
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by black6host on Monday December 30 2019, @01:59AM
Or, it doesn't and you have a perpetual motion machine! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttered_cat_paradox [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Monday December 30 2019, @05:45AM
I actually use that as an energy source, I duct-tape two cats paw to paw and toss them in the air. They end up just spinning in place in mid-air, which drives a small turbine I use to power my laptop.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @08:05PM (1 child)
A friend and physics major had a slightly sadistic streak when he was younger--he would hold his kitten on it's back (feet up) across his two hands, then lower his hands to simulate the cat being dropped. If the lowering was done very slowly, the cat didn't react, but any faster and it would start the process of turning over (feet down). With all this practice, the cat got very good and it was easy to see the moves it made. As an adult, I think that cat must have held a record for turning over quickly--it would land on its feet, even if it only fell a foot or so.
Practice makes perfect?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @08:08PM
Sorry, that should have been,
Practice makes purrr-fect.
It was a great cat, very friendly and relaxed.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday December 29 2019, @08:09PM (7 children)
We had lots of cats when I was a kid, so we put it to the test. Cats do not always land on their feet. Did they even conduct experiments that a 10-year-old could do, or were they like Archimedes, who taught that women had fewer teeth but couldn't be arsed to count his wife's teeth?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @08:30PM (2 children)
I hope you ran your tests by dropping the cats on a bed or other soft surface?
There was one cat in the college dorm that was known to be pretty lazy, and it wouldn't land on its feet most of the time, couldn't be arsed to bother.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday December 29 2019, @09:21PM (1 child)
If it was in a college dorm, it was probably too stoned to land on its feet.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Monday December 30 2019, @03:01AM
We were told that his mother was a male and never checked, to nobody believed me that the lump hiding under my blankets on Labour Day was giving birth.
Same as they didn't believe me years later when he died on April Fools Day.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday December 29 2019, @09:20PM (1 child)
Gathered reports from across the world indicate that cats do best at living up to the myth when falling from less than three stories or more than seven stories. I'm not sure why anything in between significantly increases their risk of injury but it does appear to.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by coolgopher on Sunday December 29 2019, @11:17PM
I recall reading something about this likely being due to reaching terminal velocity around seven stories. Higher than three and a cat knows it's in trouble and tenses up, which is bad. Once terminal velocity is reached, it stops accelerating and de-tenses, putting it in a better position for a safer landing. Citation needed, etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 30 2019, @02:38AM (1 child)
Do they have teeth extracted during the operation?
That said, even if cats did always land on their feet, this type of research is useless. It has only slightly more value than gender studies garbage. Eliminate English departments and focus on researching science that actually matters and affects people's lives.
(Score: 3, Funny) by barbara hudson on Monday December 30 2019, @03:07AM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @09:10PM
Cats have been dropped, thrown even, in the name of art: Dali Anatomicus [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday December 30 2019, @12:31AM (5 children)
....now it's called Chicken Chow Mein.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Informative) by EETech1 on Monday December 30 2019, @01:03AM (4 children)
I know a Cambodian refugee that lived through the genocide. He lived in the jungle from about age 8 - 12.
He told me that once you live on bugs and rats for a week or two that you will learn to like the taste of dog.
He also said the only way to kill a cat is to catch it in a bag, and then drown it, otherwise it will fsck you up royally.
One scratch from a wild cat, and whatever is under it's claws will give you an infection, and in the jungle, infection kill you!
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday December 30 2019, @01:25AM (2 children)
When I was a kid, my friend tried throwing his cat in the lake: you can imagine the damage to his arms and chest!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Monday December 30 2019, @01:33AM (1 child)
That's what the bag is for, you catch them in the bag, then bag and cat go under water so they never have s chance to get you.
(Score: 4, Funny) by mhajicek on Monday December 30 2019, @11:10AM
Just don't let the cat out of the bag or you'll ruin the surprise.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 30 2019, @03:37PM
I've never had to live in the jungle, but I like the taste of dog. Sort of softer beef. Alas, never got to try cat yet.
Asian travels. I have no problems keeping members of those species as pets.
(Score: 2) by noneof_theabove on Monday December 30 2019, @01:00AM
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Bot on Monday December 30 2019, @05:44AM
Do not, under any circumstances, refer to the cat's "9 lives" myth in the presence of children. They will put the claim to the test.
Account abandoned.