5 ms·
The problem with that theory is that while a cat is falling it is in zero G. It actually makes an interesting puzzle to figure out what a cat is actually respo
by lisper 5y ago
The problem with that theory is that while a cat is falling it is in zero G.
It actually makes an interesting puzzle to figure out what a cat is actually responding to when it lands on its feet after a fall.
- screye 5y agoThat is only true in a vacuum though. The cat is feeling the air resistance locally on the parts that face forward while G is applied uniformly.
- lisper 5y agoThat's one possibility but I'm pretty sure that's not it. If it were, then if you dropped a cat in a stiff breeze it would land sideways.
- bhedgeoser 5y agoDo they?
- tailspin2019 5y agoThere's only one way to find out...
- throwanem 5y agoI'll bring the cat if you'll bring the wind tunnel!
- pdonis 5y ago> The problem with that theory is that while a cat is falling it is in zero G. Ah, yes, I see your point. Air resistance would eventually kick in and provide positive G, but not in a short enough fall. And cats are heavy enough that "a short enough fall" probably includes most falls in which they are observed to land on their feet.
- sandworm101 5y agoA cat's whiskers can detect very minute air movements. Even without whiskers, a human face can feel slight puffs of air at tiny speeds, speeds that falling objects hit within inches. Wind alone should give the cat enough directional information within milliseconds. Whether it can adjust its body position in time is a different issue. It certainly knows in which direction it is falling practically instantly. Cats also have memory. They remember in which direction gravity was pulling them before the fall. Absent every other sensation that memory should be enough to get the process going even absent new sensations.
- can16358p 5y agoAbout the memory part, it can be interesting to see in a perfectly black spherical chamber to first lose sensation of any direction, then to try the experiment to rule out the possible effect of memory. Yet, I hope no one tries this as it might perhaps be traumatic to cats.
- btilly 5y agoI'm sure that it keeps track of which direction is up with the same inner ear mechanism that we use for our balance. Given that it starts properly oriented thanks to gravity, and doesn't spend long falling, this gives it a good idea which direction is up when it lands. Spend long enough out of gravity, and it will get confused. As do we.
- pdonis 5y agoYes, this makes sense.
- JumpCrisscross 5y agoCould also be the sensation of air rushing past [1]. Curious to test the competing hypotheses--dead reckoning from initial alignment versus air movement--in a wind tunnel. [1] https://www.military.com/history/how-naked-skydive-inspired-way-keep-pilots-oriented-flight.html https://www.military.com/history/how-naked-skydive-inspired-...
- state_less 5y agoThat’s what I thought too. The cat loses its plumb vector if subject to zero g for too long. Under normal circumstances, the cat quickly reorients along the previous plumb vector. Could be wrong, but that’s my guess. Nice joy ride BTW.
- MarkMarine 5y agoThe cat is being accelerated at 9.8m/s2 towards the earth while falling. What do you mean by this?
- MrPatan 5y agoIsn't the cat also being accelerated at 9.8m/s2 towards the earth while in "zero g"?
- metrognome 5y agoWhile falling, the cat is in an inertial reference frame, so it is not accelerating. The ground is actually accelerating upward at 9.8 m/s2, counteracting the flow of spacetime. This Veritasium video gives an intuitive explanation: https://youtu.be/XRr1kaXKBsU https://youtu.be/XRr1kaXKBsU
- IncRnd 5y agoA cat is not a rigid body and is absolutely accelerating towards Earth, experiencing the physical effects of gravity.
- metrognome 5y agoThere's a difference between accelerating compared to a coordinate system, and accelerating compared to an inertial rest frame. If you set a fixed coordinate system relative to the ground, then yes, the cat is accelerating towards the ground. Consider this: if you hold an accelerometer while stationary on the ground, it will read 1g (accelerating). If you read an accelerometer while in free-fall, it will read 0g (ignoring wind resistance). In the first scenario, you are accelerating compared to your rest frame, even if you are standing still. This is not an arbitrary distinction either. The 1g of acceleration while stationary on the ground produces measurable relativistic effects.
- IncRnd 5y agoAn accelerometer doesn't measure what you think. It measures the difference between the acceleration of the casing and the internals, for an example. It is designed to show 0 in free-fall. Yet, it still is under the force of 1G towards the center of the Earth.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- sandworm101 5y agoWhiskers. Every cat is perfectly aware of the rapidly accelerating wind rushing past its head. Then they have ears to hear that wind. Lastly they have eyes and some experience with life on solid ground. They see it coming and understand what that means... Unlike sperm whales.
- Teknoman117 5y ago> Unlike sperm whales. Or pots of petunias.
- noizejoy 5y agoActually the petunias *did* know [0] [0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/198068-another-thing-that-got-forgotten-was-the-fact-that-against https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/198068-another-thing-that-g...
- dwiel 5y agoAll of those would still happen in zero-g though right?
- sandworm101 5y agoYes. Toss a cat off a roof and the cat experiences "zero-g" as it accelerates towards terminal velocity.
- klysm 5y agoI don’t think you experience zero g, you feel acceleration right?
- sandworm101 5y agoHaving done "zero-g" in aircraft many times, you do feel it. Your blood shifts. Your spine decompresses. Your head gets lighter. You very much know that you are falling.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- sly010 5y agoMaybe "down" is buffered and the buffer is read at the moment of release. But the buffer is only a few hundred millisecond wide. If the "wind" theory is true, would a cat would have it's paws pointing upwards while flying up?
- thunderbong 5y agoI don't get it. How can it 'fall' if it is zero gravity?
- onion2k 5y agowhile a cat is falling it is in zero G Are you saying that objects that are falling aren't impacted by gravity? Because that's not true...