- #1
himanshu2004@
- 37
- 0
Problem with cats surviving high falls! :)
I've been reengaging with physics since I'd stopped formally studying it after high school (with the exception of a little bit I we had during studying computer science at university).
So I was revising my concepts of inertial frames, non intertial frames, "fictitious" forces experienced during acceleration etc, and I remembered reading in a book by Hallilday and Resnick that cats survive falls from higher places better than from lower ones (with 4-5 floors being the most dangerous height). I couldn't exactly reason out why it would happen and so I searched it on the web again and this seems to be the reason:
Cats relax after reaching terminal velocity. This causes them to spread out their posture, which reduces their terminal velocity. The further explanation given is that we can feel acceleration (and not uniform velocity).
I have a problem with this explanation, because we should only be able to "feel" acceleration when we are being accelerated by the push or pull, so to speak, of the accelerating frame. This should not happen in when accelerating due to the effect of gravity, because all of our atoms would be experiencing the same acceleration.
So, is there a problem with the explanation, and if so, what is the right explanation?
Thanks!
I've been reengaging with physics since I'd stopped formally studying it after high school (with the exception of a little bit I we had during studying computer science at university).
So I was revising my concepts of inertial frames, non intertial frames, "fictitious" forces experienced during acceleration etc, and I remembered reading in a book by Hallilday and Resnick that cats survive falls from higher places better than from lower ones (with 4-5 floors being the most dangerous height). I couldn't exactly reason out why it would happen and so I searched it on the web again and this seems to be the reason:
Cats relax after reaching terminal velocity. This causes them to spread out their posture, which reduces their terminal velocity. The further explanation given is that we can feel acceleration (and not uniform velocity).
I have a problem with this explanation, because we should only be able to "feel" acceleration when we are being accelerated by the push or pull, so to speak, of the accelerating frame. This should not happen in when accelerating due to the effect of gravity, because all of our atoms would be experiencing the same acceleration.
So, is there a problem with the explanation, and if so, what is the right explanation?
Thanks!
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