You can drop a cat from the Eiffel tower and it will survive.

[The Mullinator]

I think if someone wants to properly disprove this then they are going to have to do so mathematically.

 

[Nat Turner]

Actually weight doesn't matter. Gravity pulls everything downward at a rate of 9.8m/s/s. Weight comes into play with the air resistance of the cats fur. The more the cat weighs the less the air resistance of the fur will help it.

Weight matters a lot, because it counteracts the force of air resistance. If you drop a balloon filled with air and a balloon filled with water, the one with water will fall faster.

edit:

Oh wait you said that. Anyways, just reinforcing your point.

 

[PickledGecko]

Negatory, objects have differing terminal velocities depending of a variety of things, air resistance being one of them which is a result of the total surface area of the object that is falling. Which is why a flat piece of paper falls slower than a crumpled up piece of paper.

Anyways, ever see a bowling ball dropped at the same time as a tennis ball from a 5 storey building? Guess which one hits first.

I used the term "air resistance" as a blanket term for all effects that air has on an object (drag, etc). It seemed a better way than trying to explain that every object falls at the same acceleration in a vacuum and that adding air is the only reason that things have such a thing as terminal velocity, and things of different shape fall at different accelerations.

 

[Muffin Man]

moral of the story cat = live if land correctly
u = dumbass if disagree

thank you for your time

 

[The Mullinator]

moral of the story cat = live if land correctly
u = dumbass if disagree

thank you for your time

heh, I think it's still u = dumbass for actually dropping the poor cat from such heights anyway.

 

[TheSomeone]

Actually weight doesn't matter. Gravity pulls everything downward at a rate of 9.8m/s/s.

I'm sorry, but no.

The force of gravity is equal to the mass times the acceleration of gravity (9.8m/s^2). Which by the way, is the definition of weight.

Wanna try it? hold a pen in one hand and a heavy book in the other. Do they feel like they're both being pusheddown at the same rate? No, the book is being pushed down much harder, hence it's weight is higher, hence it feels heavier..

 

[Muffin Man]

heh, I think it's still u = dumbass for actually dropping the poor cat from such heights anyway.

poor mittens :-(

 

[TheSomeone]

FUR HAS NOTHING, NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. PLEASE, FOR THE LAST TIME, LOOK AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND:



^ DO YOU SEE FUR FACTORED IN ANYWHERE HERE? NO. YET I GOT THE CORRECT TERMINAL VELOCITY. BUT DO YOU SEE WEIGHT (right hand side of the equation, mass times gravity)? DO YOU SEE AREA? YES YOU DO VERY MUCH.

Christ, posting science and math stuff here makes me realize how ignorant you all are.

 

[Absinthe]

I still want a video to prove this.

 

[Top Secret]

Hum, I'm sorry but you're stupid. Of course weight matters, it's what accelerates us downwards.

BUHAHAHAHH

No. Weight only negates air resistance. Without air resistance, a feather and a penny would fall at the same rate, with the same acceleration.

 

[Nat Turner]

Where did you get the surface area from?

 

[TheSomeone]

No. Weight only negates air resistance. Without air resistance, a feather and a penny would fall at the same rate, with the same acceleration.

Yes... that doesn't counter my point, they are being pulled at the same rate. But a penny and an elephant won't fall at the same velocity in a vaccum.

 

[Muffin Man]

Where did you get the surface area from?

your mothers naught place

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

It's one thing to call me stupid and a liar, it's another to speak for yourself but using "we" and calling me stupid and a liar.

You're a douche.

I'm calling you stupid and a liar, yes, so is outpost, therefore there is a "we."

Oh I'm so insulted you called me a douche, go back to your hole.

 

[Muffin Man]

wow, we play nice.... stating one scientific theory and we all turn to eachothers throats... yaaay..

 

[SIGbastard]

I saw something on discovery about cats a long time ago. It pretty much said the same thing. Cats arch there back and somehow create more air resistance with how they shape their body. They are less likely to be injured when falling from above a certain height because they have more time to react properly. It sounds crazy but it's 100% true from certain heights. Now I don't know for sure if they can survive terminal velocity.

 

[TheSomeone]

I'm calling you stupid and a liar, yes, so is outpost, therefore there is a "we."

Oh I'm so insulted you called me a douche, go back to your hole.

You're just pissed off because I did what you couldn't even think of doing, and didn't want to beleive me to be able to do it: first-year physics.

 

[SIGbastard]

Yes... that doesn't counter my point, they are being pulled at the same rate. But a penny and an elephant won't fall at the same velocity in a vaccum.

Dude, you got it kinda backwards. A penny and elephant will fall at the same velocity in a vacuum. It's outside of a vacuum that their speeds will differ. In a vacumm the surface area/mass ratio doesn't matter because there is no air resistance.

 

[TheSomeone]

Dude, you got it kinda backwards. A penny and elephant will fall at the same velocity in a vacuum. It's outside of a vacuum that their speeds will differ. In a vacumm the surface area/mass ratio doesn't matter because there is no air resistance.

You're right, I realized that, my bad.

 

[OvA]

It's possible for a human to land safely on relativley hard ground from any height if they go about it properly.
Well i could at least, just bend my knees at the right time and i'd be fine.

leave it to short recoil to skydive without a parachute

 

[The Mullinator]

Might still not be true but take a look here anyway:
http://www.metafilter.com/comments.mefi/19564

Also read the comments,

 

[Teta_Bonita]

I still want a video to prove this.

QFT

 

[Da-Muffin-Man]

I still want a video to prove this.

QFT

Bastards....think of the kittehs :frown: ;(

 

[Nat Turner]

We need vast amounts of empirical evidence to prove these hypotheses.

*stocks up on kittens from animal shelters*

edit: spelling

 

[Greatgat]

Bastards....think of the kittehs :frown: ;(

Damn straight. Just because of some insane desire to drop living creatures from extreme heights doesn't mean...

Hmm...

 

[Da-Muffin-Man]

Damn straight. Just because of some insane desire to drop living creatures from extreme heights doesn't mean...

Hmm...

I suppose to make it seem less evil we could make it a professional sport. Extreme Cat Diving!

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

You're just pissed off because I did what you couldn't even think of doing,

Yeah let me tell you, I think about dropping a cat from the ****ing Eiffel tower....But I mean I guess you're just sooo smart, now tell me how to code SPE's for the PS3.

 

[Nat Turner]

Psh. If people are allowed to climb Mt. Everest (1 in 4 dies) then people can throw their cats off really high buildings (1 in 10 supposedly dies).

 

[Greatgat]

I suppose to make it seem less evil we could make it a professional sport. Extreme Cat Diving!

Like..?

 

[Da-Muffin-Man]

Lol...ok...bad wording. Extreme Cat Sky-Diving (extra extreme no parchute version!)

 

[Greatgat]

Lol...ok...bad wording. Extreme Cat Sky-Diving (extra extreme no parchute version!)

Google image search brings me nothing. And thus I have failed...:|

 

[Shamrock]

are you sure this isn't another .9999...=white shoe?

Hey! That was my fact!
AND
It was 3 = white shoe!

 

[evil^milk]

how much kg does a cat weigh?

 

[Last One In]

One part of this is bs at least. We don't have a higher terminal speed than cats. All objects of similar form factor have the same terminal velocity. Weight doesn't make a difference. If what you're saying it true, then a cat would survive falling out of a high-altitude plane as well. Are you suggesting that too?

This is Gallelaos theory, but it doesn't account for air resistance. try dropping a sheet of paper out your window and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Greatgat]

This is Gallelaos theory, but it doesn't account for air resistance. try dropping a sheet of paper out your window and you'll see what I mean.

Can I tie a cat to it?

 

[Uriel]

QFT? what is that?

 

[Greatgat]

QFT? what is that?

Quoted For Truth.

OT, we need to start throwing cats from ever higher things to determine their limits. Saturn, anyone?

 

[TheSomeone]

Yeah let me tell you, I think about dropping a cat from the ****ing Eiffel tower....But I mean I guess you're just sooo smart, now tell me how to code SPE's for the PS3.

I'm gonna start ignoring you in this thread so it won't get locked.

Next time I'm in Paris, i'll let you guys know the results.

 

[Feath]

It's not BS, I derived it myself to test it out using quantum physics. It's really easy if you know any physics.

quantum physics?? Good lord. It that case I would hazard to guess that the cat would neither be alive nor dead when it hit the ground. Also, you'd have to wonder how would you know it where it was considering that you're so certain that

Basically, the point I'm getting at is that you didn't use quantum physics. You used Newtonian physics (I think).

Anyway, I'm surprised you've just declared that you've worked out the correct answer. Surely you've realised you've worked out the answer to a model (one where the cat is actually a box, which a drag coeffiecient of 1.)

((deleted some stuff after further research))

 

[Naudian]

Haven't read this entire thread, but has THIS video been posted yet?

K...not quite as high as the E-tower but eh...