https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex#Terminal_velocity
I suggest many of you should be open to learning new things. I might be proven wrong, but for now my provided link clearly states:
- cats do not land on their feet after falling from great height.
- real data (~130 cats from NY) is available on falling cats and mortality/injury rate.
- height > 7 stories does increase survival rate based on data
"In a 1987 study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of 132 cats that were brought into the New York Animal Medical Center after having fallen from buildings, it was found that the injuries per cat increased depending on the height fallen up to seven stories, but decreased above seven stories.[8] The study authors speculated that after falling five stories the cats reached terminal velocity and thereafter relaxed and spread their bodies to increase drag."
I'll probably be lurking again after this one. The forums have gone pretty rotten the last couple of years.
I suggest many of you should be open to learning new things. I might be proven wrong, but for now my provided link clearly states:
- cats do not land on their feet after falling from great height.
- real data (~130 cats from NY) is available on falling cats and mortality/injury rate.
- height > 7 stories does increase survival rate based on data
"In a 1987 study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of 132 cats that were brought into the New York Animal Medical Center after having fallen from buildings, it was found that the injuries per cat increased depending on the height fallen up to seven stories, but decreased above seven stories.[8] The study authors speculated that after falling five stories the cats reached terminal velocity and thereafter relaxed and spread their bodies to increase drag."
I'll probably be lurking again after this one. The forums have gone pretty rotten the last couple of years.
yeah... this is correct... but it is only correct up to a certain height, there is a sweet spot, and anything over that, and the cat gets it.
so go up to the 102 floor of the empire state building and throw the cat off, then it dies.. there is nothing that can stop the mass of the cats head from hitting the ground.
"Terminal velocity" is the maximum velocity of a body as it falls through air. Mathematically, the velocity at ground increases with the starting height, but beyond a certain height the increase is negligible.
The article says that (1) the terminal velocity for a cat is 100 km/h and (2) that velocity is pretty much attained when falling from 5-6 stories. One of these must be wrong, since a cat falling from 18 meters (6 generous stories) in vacuum would hit the ground at ~70 km/h only.
I would go with 8-10 stories.
