Cats and their feet

[A Childs Mind]

Why do cats always land on their feet?

[Sisyphus]

They don't.

[john5746]

Why do cats always land on their feet?

 

Because they are actually space aliens that are plotting the destruction of earth. They have advanced technology that allows them to do it.

[A Childs Mind]

.........i new it.............quick to the bunker awwwway

[the tree]

Even when people fall they will put their arms in front of their face or whatever. Cats tend to be pretty flexible and being hunters they are used to sudden fast movements, so it's not surprising that they are good at falling with style.

[Kyrisch]

Even when people fall they will put their arms in front of their face or whatever. Cats tend to be pretty flexible and being hunters they are used to sudden fast movements, so it's not surprising that they are good at falling with style.

 

So that's where Buzz Lightyear learned it from!

[hermanntrude]

actually they don't always land on their feet but they do have a pretty nifty way of rotating in mid-air and at least trying to land on their feet if given the chance.

 

I forget where I saw it now... hmm

 

I found it... here's the link

[Mokele]

Here's a good link.

 

Basically, the cat bends it's back, and then rotates the fore and hand parts of the body around, producing a 'zero angular momentum maneuver'.

 

The same mechanism is used bu human high divers and gymnasts, as well as by crocodiles performing a 'death roll'.

[Kaeroll]

Home experiment: strap a piece of buttered toast to a cat's back (butter side up) and drop from a height.

 

Murphy's law vs. Darwin.

[the tree]

That's not Murphy's law. If Murphy's law applied to that situation then the cat would land on it's feet, run away, eat the toast and then never come back.

[Kaeroll]

That's not Murphy's law. If Murphy's law applied to that situation then the cat would land on it's feet, run away, eat the toast and then never come back.

Murphy's law dictates, amongst other things, that buttered toast lands butter side down.

[the tree]

Not so, Murphy's law broadly speaking is "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". The toast thing only counts if you specifically don't want toast to fall buttered side down.

 

The toast thing is really more to do with the average height of tables versus the fact that toast can't rotate that quickly.

[CharonY]

Murphy's law dictates, amongst other things, that buttered toast lands butter side down.

 

That is a reductionist's interpretation of the law. The extended law demands that while toasting you short out your whole neighborhood, thus creating an angry mob with pitchforks, set yourself on fire while trying to get the toast out, slash your wrists while buttering the toast, slip on your blood while trying to drop the toast, breaking your spine in the process. All the while the toast comes sailing down on your face, butter side down. Only it is isn't butter, but due to prolonged incubation in the fridge something grew that is infectious and has a hunger for your brain. While being thoroughly infected the mob comes crushing in, only to find you zombified. You start biting the first of the, Then we can cross-over to the zombie thread. The end.

 

Darn. I forgot the cat. She will scratch you if you try to throw her. If she is a he, he will scratch you regardless what you do. Because he can.

Edited April 14, 2009 by CharonY

[Kaeroll]

That is a reductionist's interpretation of the law. The extended law demands that while toasting you short out your whole neighborhood, thus creating an angry mob with pitchforks, set yourself on fire while trying to get the toast out, slash your wrists while buttering the toast, slip on your blood while trying to drop the toast, breaking your spine in the process. All the while the toast comes sailing down on your face, butter side down. Only it is isn't butter, but due to prolonged incubation in the fridge something grew that is infectious and has a hunger for your brain. While being thoroughly infected the mob comes crushing in, only to find you zombified. You start biting the first of the, Then we can cross-over to the zombie thread. The end.

 

Darn. I forgot the cat. She will scratch you if you try to throw her. If she is a he, he will scratch you regardless what you do. Because he can.

He'll be here all week here, folks. Try the fish.

[JohnB]

Murphy's law dictates, amongst other things, that buttered toast lands butter side down.

It's actually the "Butter side Down Law", a derivative of "Sods Law".

 

Home experiment: strap a piece of buttered toast to a cat's back (butter side up) and drop from a height.

I believe this to be a very underused energy resource. By the combination of "Sod's Law" and the "Cat Foot Law", the cat should stop just above the ground and begin to rotate rapidly, thus providing an energy source when hooked to a generator.

 

Practical application requires more experiment though. Firstly there is a problem with firmly securing the toast to the cats back. Superglue doesn't work very well as it glues the toast to the fur rather than the cat. Staples are not a viable option as they don't penetrate the toast well enough.

 

My attempts at sewing have left me rather scratched, but the doctors think they will save my right eye.

 

Relative masses must also be considered. Is one piece of toast enough? Or should I use enough toast to equal the weight of the cat? However, if I use multiple pieces of toast, they will have to be stacked on top of one another and the "Law of Diminishing Returns" may come into play.

 

I am certain that there is a large source of energy to be found here as during my experiments I discovered that tying toast to a cats back and then holding it upside down and dropping it, causes the cat to travel to the floor where it undergoes massive acceleration and disappears out the door.

 

I believe this acceleration effect is due to the system being unbalanced WRT the cat/toast mass equilibrium.

 

I remain confidant that with further experimentation, a more patient cat and a large government grant, success is within my grasp.

[Mr Skeptic]

[JohnB]

They don't always land on their feet.

Ah yes, the "Interference Effect".

 

I've noticed it myself on many occasions. While the cause is uncertain, it is my theory that unseen pieces of toast are effecting the cats trajectories.

 

Given the large amount of evidence of interference, it is my belief that this invisible and undetectable, or "Dark" toast may in fact make up nearly 95% of all the toast in the Universe.

 

Experiments have shown that all toast is moving towards this state. Direct observation shows that toast will get darker the longer you leave it in the toaster. (The mere fact that it remains visible could be considered evidence against my theories, but only by those unused to the concept of exhaustive testing.)

 

Time is obviously a factor in the transformation from "Light" to "Dark" toast as the observations mentioned above prove. So by placing the "Semi-Dark" toast on a plate and placing the plate on the table and leaving it overnight, the toast completes its transformation and disappears.

 

Science is amazing!!!!!!

[Kaeroll]

Experiments have shown that all toast is moving towards this state. Direct observation shows that toast will get darker the longer you leave it in the toaster. (The mere fact that it remains visible could be considered evidence against my theories, but only by those unused to the concept of exhaustive testing.)

Au contraire!

 

I too have been investigating the phenomenon of dark toast. I observed that in the presence of certain housemates with a penchant for burnt pizza, dark toast left unattended becomes completely invisible. Interestingly, the only remaining fragments (or 'crumbs') are light or at most semi-dark. The obvious interpretation is that the housemate has eaten the toast - but I extracted a sworn statement from the subject that this is not the case. Most interesting.

[JohnB]

The obvious interpretation is that the housemate has eaten the toast - but I extracted a sworn statement from the subject that this is not the case.

Exactly!!! So your housemate didn't cause the disappearance of the toast and I do not have a housemate to cause a disappearance.

 

The toast vanishes naturally thereby proving our theory of "Dark" toast!!!!!!

 

It is truly wonderful to meet a fellow researcher in this highly under rated area.

[Kaeroll]

Exactly!!! So your housemate didn't cause the disappearance of the toast and I do not have a housemate to cause a disappearance.

 

The toast vanishes naturally thereby proving our theory of "Dark" toast!!!!!!

 

It is truly wonderful to meet a fellow researcher in this highly under rated area.

Indeed! The internet is a wonderful place, truly the intellectual lubricant science has always needed.

 

My current work focuses on reversing the trend of darkening of toast, which I believe may be related to entropy and the arrow of time. I don't want to bore you with the details, so in brief I am testing various substances as a sort of protective layer. So far, my results are inconclusive; marmalade has proved ineffective, and I found Marmite actually increases the rate of disappearance!

[Royston]

Direct observation shows that toast will get darker the longer you leave it in the toaster.

 

You can't directly observe Dark Toast, but I've managed to detect it's presence, via an elaborate piece of equipment, that I've spent many years developing. It's roughly the size of a two story house, but I think, in years to come, owing to the rapid advances in modern technology, that my 'smoke alarm' will be the size of a shoe box. I'll keep you posted.

[CharonY]

Nonsense. There is no dark toast. This thread really starts to degrade up to the point that it should belong in pseudoscience. And btw. smoke alarm exist already. They have been improved to the size of a disco and only require a numerous deaths to indicate that there is smoke. None of which ever have detected dark toast. Popcorn on the other hand...

[JohnB]

Nonsense. There is no dark toast.

You can't be serious!!! You are being blind to ignore the evidence that Kaeroll and I have presented.

 

Our names will go down with the greats: Copernicus and Curie, Einstein and Columbus,.....um, um,......Laurel and Hardy.

 

You can't directly observe Dark Toast, but I've managed to detect it's presence

Detecting it is not enough. Without a proper understanding of Dark toast we will not be able to counteract it's effects. We need to understand it so that our cat experiments can be concluded successfully.

 

@CharonY. What's this about popcorn? It sounds intriguing.

[ope]

what if you tie together two cats back to back?

[iNow]

what if you tie together two cats back to back?

 

Then, you'd be demonstrating the behaviors of a sociopath, and would likely need some intensive counseling.