my science teacher said....

[WicKeD_WaYz]

that if a cat falls from more than one story... it will most likely die.

except if it falls from more than 4 1/2 stories...it will most likely live.

something about once the cat reaches terminal velocity, it relaxes its muscles and doesnt die when it lands?

true?

[Python14]

Test it

[WicKeD_WaYz]

ive been looking for a stray all afternoon

[Eagle]

Yeah, I saw a tv program about this once, it has to due also with the idea that it gives the cat enough time to twist around and land on its feet.

[TMAXXKING1]

man all my science teacher would ever say to me was... i get paid even if you dont show up to class ...

["the FitZ"]

Well, let's think about it. If you drop a cat off the empire state building, I don't care what it relaxes that cat will be tasting it's butthole. That's just my opinion though. I also had a science teacher tell me he took a group of bad kids off into the desert somewhere and left them. He wasn't being sarcastic either. Yep I thinks I'm gonna have to call bs on that

[t33kyboy]

Cats need time to realize wtf is going on, or that is what i was told.

[Pickle]

bs dittos here.

Just saw a vid with a cat on top of a telephone pole. Stupid humans were attempting a "rescue". When one of the stupid humans was close, the cat jumped. Yes, it was a full size telephone pole. The cat ran away......unharmed.

As far as needing enough time to be able to turn to land on its feet. We used to have a cat that was a great sport. One day we took it to see how little height it needed to land on its feet. Was only 12 inches or something. In fact my cat just walked by.....let me double check.

Yup, 12 inches.

[t33kyboy]

So if a cat is dropped from 11 inches, it will most likely die.

[HoppysMag]

So if a cat is dropped from 11 inches, it will most likely die.

well at that hieght its not goin fast enough to die. but will land off ballence or on its side

[yakitori]

what kind of science teacher is this? If it is a high school science teacher, they likely dont know what they are talking about. There are too many variables to tell whether a cat will survive either fall. Variables like age, size, fitness of the cat. Its a pretty mindless statement that a cat will survive that fall or die. Why would it even come up in science class or out of class. That is why high school teachers only have to have an Educational degree, and not specialize in anything. Not to mention, non science major classes are easier than science major classes.

I say your teacher is ignorant and possibly a hillbilly. :p

[WicKeD_WaYz]

what kind of science teacher is this? If it is a high school science teacher, they likely dont know what they are talking about. There are too many variables to tell whether a cat will survive either fall. Variables like age, size, fitness of the cat. Its a pretty mindless statement that a cat will survive that fall or die. Why would it even come up in science class or out of class. That is why high school teachers only have to have an Educational degree, and not specialize in anything. Not to mention, non science major classes are easier than science major classes.

I say your teacher is ignorant and possibly a hillbilly. :p


by generalizing that all highschool teachers dont know what they are talking about is also pretty ignorant. some teachers maybe enjoy highschool kids more than college? maybe they have other reasons than they arent smart enough. I know lots of knowledgable teachers, lots of idiots too, but that goes for about everything.

and since I havnt seen too many hillbilly's in south OC....im going to have to say no to the hillbilly part too.

and the variables...yea....thats why I said MOST of the time. Of course if every cat was exactly the same this would be an easy question. Maybe I needed to specify were talking about the average cat here...not the gold medal olympian cat from Kenya....

[Onryou]

i don't think muscle relaxation would matter at terminal velocity. cuz its not the fall that kills, its that sudden stop against something solid that does. sure, its muscles may look good and simply bruised, but those bones can't relax...

[WicKeD_WaYz]

i don't think muscle relaxation would matter at terminal velocity. cuz its not the fall that kills, its that sudden stop against something solid that does. sure, its muscles may look good and simply bruised, but those bones can't relax...


but isnt that why drunk people hardly ever die in car accidents....because they arent tensed up...

[TheDuelist]

So if a cat always lands on its feet and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what happens when you duct tape buttered bread to the back of a cat?

[brianlojeck]

The duct tape messes up the aerodynamic forces. You need to butter the cat directly.

[TheDuelist]

If thats the case couldn't the butter induce spin? I mean a cat in a flat spin on its way to the ground is no good. It'll just auger in and there goes the experiment.

[Onryou]

but isnt that why drunk people hardly ever die in car accidents....because they arent tensed up...

a 60-90mph accident into someting that gives, like another car, is hardly the same as a terminal velocity impact into something that doesn't give, like a planet. ;)

the human bodies in the accident have something to wrap around, rather then something to be spread out against. the force drives the body parts somewhere until they have 0 momentum. in the case of the accident, its wrapped around the internal parts of a car, in the case of the cat its spread out over the surface area of the ground. Just because the drunkards survive doesn't mean they do so unharmed.

[OysterBoy]

Thats assuming that the person/cat/giraffe remains completely still... shullbit. I dont care WHAT you are; your going to be in the position which is(at the time, appears to be) the most conducive to the least amount of damage possible. I think that a cat could survive it.. Giraffes on the other hand..

[Onryou]

but giraffes aren't renowned for their acrobatic abilities. now a manatee on the otherhand...















...er, maybe not.

[PyRo]

what kind of science teacher is this? If it is a high school science teacher, they likely dont know what they are talking about. :p
One of my high school science teachers was a rocket scientist and hence smart. She used to work for nasa on satalites. She was pretty well off and could be retired but she just loved teaching.

[OysterBoy]

One of my high school science teachers was a rocket scientist and hence smart. She used to work for nasa on satalites. She was pretty well off and could be retired but she just loved teaching.


My advice is to ignore this person. A teacher is where they are because they are qualified to be so, and know what they are talking about.

[slade]

there is some truth to that.

if a cat jumps, like in that video, the cat is prepared and wont die or be injured in most circumstances. however, if a cat falls, is pushed, etc. and is unprepared, it is different. from a small height the cat will not have time to wright itself before hitting the ground, but its a short fall so it wont matter. there is a certain point where the cat will not have enough time to wright itself, and may hit the ground on its back or side etc, and it will be a large enough fall that the cat will be injured. at an even higher height, the cat will have time to wright itself and arch its back spread its paws, relax etc. this will absorb the shock and allow the cat to survive a large fall. of course, even if the cat has enough time to prepare, a large enough fall will always end with
http://www.automags.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=81142

[SpitFire1299]

When i was like 4, i dropped my cat about 1 1/2 story down my stairs. He survived. Actually hes sitting on my lap.

[Rather]

One of my high school science teachers was a rocket scientist and hence smart. She used to work for nasa on satalites. She was pretty well off and could be retired but she just loved teaching.


My physics teach was talking something about thermite grenades... and how he had a few made.... hehehe :argh: Also said things about making a RPG to destroy a wall (when everyone elses mabey took out a chunk of it or a single brick, he took out the rest of the wall)

Wewt for fresh out of college lazy destructive rocket scientists!

I think pyro would love his crazy destructive mind. I know i have a special place for that FF nerd. :cool:

[PyRo]

My advice is to ignore this person. A teacher is where they are because they are qualified to be so, and know what they are talking about.
Yes, I can build satalites but not teach basics physics and chemistry...

[ScatterPlot]

You know, flying saucers work on this very principle. The engines that give it lift are simply 2 cats stuck back to back- hence the humming sound people seem to hear. Jetpacks could be made with the aforementioned buttered cat idea, but not something as big as a flying saucer.

Buttered cats=2 stroke engines
Doubled cats=4 stroke engines
Quad cats= Turbo diesel

[Bad_Dog]

Test it
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: hahahahahahahaha


So if a cat is dropped from 11 inches, it will most likely die.
bwahahahahahahaha hahahahahaha hahahahahaha

(depends on whether you're dropping it into a woodchipper :rofl: )




I hate cats with a passon!

[Hasty8]

http://forum.butteredcat.co.uk/viewtopic.php?id=2

Another thread debating this type of argument.

I like Flangemaster's test. :rofl:

Okay, this guy has far too much free time.
http://helix.gatech.edu/Classes/ME3760/1998Q3/Projects/Nguyen/
I will say though, that this invocles math and the guy's name appears Asian so he must be right! :rofl:

And this site seems a bit more professional.
http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae411.cfm

[slade]

from hasty8's last link:

[QUOTE]Animal experts say that this instinct is observable in kittens as young as three to four weeks[QUOTE]
now what kind of sadistic maniac drops 3 week old kittens as an experiment?! at three weeks old a kitten can barely walk, yet someone is trying to drop them to see if they can twist themselves around and land on their feet?!

you know, i think im going to start doing the same experiment with human infants. ill just break into a nursery at night. "hmm, 'robert,' three weeks old. lets see if you can turn over and land on your feet if youre dropped!" THUNK! "nope, guess not bob, that looked to me like you landed on your head. hmm, 'sue,' four weeks old. ill bet youre old enough to land on your feet!" :rolleyes: :D

[PyRo]

We know humans cannot twist like that so their is no need for an experiment :)
Take a phychology course and you get to see videos of all the things they do to infants. Actually I forget all of them except the cliff one. A baby will walk right off the edge (and safley onto a piece of glass they cannot see) at a certain point they develop the sense to say "hey if I walk over this i'm going to fall and crack my head open".

On another note:
My mother used to be a vet. The office had a cat that got dropped off one day with a broken jaw. Somone had thrown it out a 2nd story window to see if it would land on its feet. It didn't.

[tony3]

Only thing my physics teacher told me about cats was he had to bury his mothers. The cat died in a stretched out position and wouldn't fit in the hole, when his mother and wife weren't looking he cracked it over his knee and threw it in :D

[WickeDKlowN]

In 8th grade, my science teacher taught us how to make black powder. And in Chrmistry last year my teacher was talking about how to make some sort of crazy radiation death ray or something. I tried to get him to use Thermite to demonstrate an exothermic reaction but he said the fume-hood couldn't suck the smoke up fast enough and we would all die.

Never learned anything about cats though.

[slade]

We know humans cannot twist like that so their is no need for an experiment :)
Take a phychology course and you get to see videos of all the things they do to infants. Actually I forget all of them except the cliff one. A baby will walk right off the edge (and safley onto a piece of glass they cannot see) at a certain point they develop the sense to say "hey if I walk over this i'm going to fall and crack my head open".

On another note:
My mother used to be a vet. The office had a cat that got dropped off one day with a broken jaw. Somone had thrown it out a 2nd story window to see if it would land on its feet. It didn't.
hey, you never know till you try :ninja:

those are some pretty cool tests... and it proves my theory that baby humans are the stupidest of lifeforms... which already had a lot of evidence from when my feline anatomy teacher (yes feline anatomy) brought in her 2 year old son... the 6 week old kittens were smart, energetic and coordinated. he, on the other hand, had trouble walking, shook the kittens when they came over, curious (they kept away after that) and found a croquet set, dragged it around, knocked it over on top of him, and sat down and cried until someone came over to rescue him.

oh, and that person should be shot... or at least smacked around a bit for stupidity. they could at least RESEARCH something before testing something they heard. if a cat falls from a certain range of height (including 2 stories) he/she will not have enough time to rotate his/her body and prepare for the impact, and thus will be injured. at a higher hight, the cat will have enought time to properly prepare before impact.

(you know, an eye for an eye punishment sounds pretty good. that person should be thrown out of a second story window :D)

[maglover728]

ive been looking for a stray all afternoon


So, did yo find a test subject? If so, what were the results?

I could mail you a cat. i don't have much money though so I would have to use parcel post! Let me know.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

if a cat falls from a certain range of height (including 2 stories) he/she will not have enough time to rotate his/her body and prepare for the impact, and thus will be injured. at a higher hight, the cat will have enought time to properly prepare before impact.



actually the cat has plenty of time to rotate around. it has time to rotate around if u drop it from almost any height. cats are crazy that way. it has something to do with how it relaxes its muscles and prepares for impact.

[slade]

actually the cat has plenty of time to rotate around. it has time to rotate around if u drop it from almost any height. cats are crazy that way. it has something to do with how it relaxes its muscles and prepares for impact.
exactly, the cat wont have time to rotate his/her body AND prepare.

[WicKeD_WaYz]

exactly, the cat wont have time to rotate his/her body AND prepare.


ooops missed that before my bad

[Hasty8]

from hasty8's last link:

[QUOTE]Animal experts say that this instinct is observable in kittens as young as three to four weeks[QUOTE]
now what kind of sadistic maniac drops 3 week old kittens as an experiment?! at three weeks old a kitten can barely walk, yet someone is trying to drop them to see if they can twist themselves around and land on their feet?!

you know, i think im going to start doing the same experiment with human infants. ill just break into a nursery at night. "hmm, 'robert,' three weeks old. lets see if you can turn over and land on your feet if youre dropped!" THUNK! "nope, guess not bob, that looked to me like you landed on your head. hmm, 'sue,' four weeks old. ill bet youre old enough to land on your feet!" :rolleyes: :D

Erm, dude, how many predators do you have coming after you within 3-4 weeks of birth?

Most wild animals can run and even walk just a few hours after birth.

Try not to put all your value and life experiences on other animals. They don't often fit.

[Hasty8]

that if a cat falls from more than one story... it will most likely die.

except if it falls from more than 4 1/2 stories...it will most likely live.

something about once the cat reaches terminal velocity, it relaxes its muscles and doesnt die when it lands?

true?

Looks like your teacher was wrong.


In a study from the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, two veterinarians examined 132 cases of cats that had fallen out of high-rise windows. On average, the cats fell 5.5 stories, but 90 percent survived, although many suffered severe injuries. The number of broken bones and injuries increased with the number of stories the cat had fallen – up to seven stories. Above seven stories, however, the number of injuries declined. In other words, the farther the cat fell, the better were his chances of escaping injury.

The reason for this may be that after falling five stories or so, cats reach a terminal velocity. The velocity or speed of a falling body does not increase forever because the rate of increase in speed is interrupted by air resistance. A skydiver reaches a terminal velocity of around 130 to 140 mph after about 30 seconds of free-falling. Cats reach terminal velocity much sooner at a speed of 60 mph.

It’s instinctive for both humans and animals to tense their muscles when free-falling, which makes them more susceptible to injury. When cats land before reaching top speed, they are rigid and flexed and prepared for the landing. This results in most of the force impacting the parts of the body that hit initially. However, after reaching terminal velocity, cats relax their muscles and spread themselves out like flying squirrels. This allows the impact of the fall to be spread across a larger surface area.

Scroll down to "Terminal Velocity" (http://www.petplace.com/Articles/artShow.asp?artID=4076)

It seems to me that he was off by a few floors.

I can't find the actual study cited but I'm lookinf for it.

[ScatterPlot]

So a cat could fall out of an airplane and live? Awesome.

[PyRo]

So a cat could fall out of an airplane and live? Awesome.
So can humans...

[ScatterPlot]

Wait- huh? They can? I mean aside from like landing on some big airbag or something, but like a cat could nearly walk away from a plane crash?

[PyRo]

Wait- huh? They can? I mean aside from like landing on some big airbag or something, but like a cat could nearly walk away from a plane crash?
Yes, aside from their natural ability to survive falls traveling around 120mph (that's about terminal velocity isn't it?) cats are also impervious to things such as being hit with other heavy objects traveling at high speeds, being crushed, and burning jet fuel.

Seriously, read the thread then use your head before I come to the conclusion that you don't have one.

[SoccerPaintball3]

cats are the best paintball targets i can find

[cockerkiller68]

This is the funniest thread that I've ever seen before.

Ever shot a cat with a bow and arrow?

How about a kitten with a bb gun?

Oh, uh, just asking.

[cockerkiller68]

Bow and arrow...that gives me an idea!! What if you shot a cat out of something at, let's say, 20 mph, 30 mph etc. Would it land on the wall on it's feet or sideways?

Then we could test how fast a cat could hit the wall and survive. 70 mph...then 80...and so on until we reach about 140 mph. If the cat could survive at 140mph, we should try and use cat DNA to create a super human Paratrooper. Imagine 1000 Paratroopers traveling 140mpg straight into the ground, getting up and kicking your arse.

[SAW]

Have you studied human anatomy?

[cockerkiller68]

I think a woman that can purr would cause quite an uproar in the community. :eek:

Imagine sports...Professional sports would never be the same!!

[slade]

Ever shot a cat with a bow and arrow?

How about a kitten with a bb gun?
diaf. NOW.

[cockerkiller68]

diaf. NOW.

What's diaf?

[PyRo]

Ever shot a cat with a bow and arrow?



I tried but I was off by about two feet because it ran, must have seen the arrow comming.

[PyRo]

How about a kitten with a bb gun?

My nieghbors cat got shot with a pellet gun does that count?

[SAW]

What's diaf?
It's german.

[ScatterPlot]

Yes, aside from their natural ability to survive falls traveling around 120mph (that's about terminal velocity isn't it?) cats are also impervious to things such as being hit with other heavy objects traveling at high speeds, being crushed, and burning jet fuel.

Seriously, read the thread then use your head before I come to the conclusion that you don't have one.

OK I'm confused. That article thing said that cats reach terminal velocity at like 4 floors. So in other words... a cat can survive anything above four floors, since it will be moving the same speed no matter where it falls above four floors. So I said "awesome" and got confused when you said that so can humans. I was pretty sure that you were kidding, and I obviously knew that it wasn't so in EVERY case but I thought you might have known about some severely obscure event in which people have survived a huge fall. And before you say I didn't read the thread, it said above that a cat's terminal velocity is like 60 mph. My earlier post was kinda messed up- I should have separated my cat comments from my human comments.

[PyRo]

Think about what else happens in a plane crash besides just hitting the ground...
Humans have been known to survive falling when their parachute fails although not in every case. Not all cats would survive either and all of them would be severaly injured.

[cockerkiller68]

Originally Posted by cockerkiller68
What's diaf?

It's german.

For what?????

[matmc89]

my science teacher has killed 94 people

[SAW]

For what?????
Think acronyms.

[Crighton]

Wasn't there a russian tzar who tossed a couple hundred cats off of a tower in hopes of publishing a scientific paper on his findings?