NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/sci/space/18095

Text File | 1992-12-23 | 1.8 KB | 45 lines

Newsgroups: sci.space
Path: sparky!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu![e-mail]
From: [e-mail] ("Phil G. Fraering")
Subject: Acceleration, cats...
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 05:09:14 GMT
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My last post for a while... btw, thanks to whoever I'm stealing
the neat indenting from ;-)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (John Roberts) writes:
] That applies to things that are somewhat resiliant (like humans with their
] limbs not locked), because if deformation continues throughout the period
] of acceleration, then the entire body is not really subjected to the full
] acceleration. (For another example, putting rubber feet or a springy internal
] suspension in a piece of equipment can greatly reduce the maximum shock if
] you drop it.)

Anyone here seen that special they did on TV a while back, about
how some cats have fallen from ten or twenty stories and sometimes
survived (don't try this at home! don't try it with a cat! and especially,
it doesn't work well with humans!)?

What I want to know is, how the ability to fall from 100-150 feet
up was _selected for_ by evolution. It implies that they went through
a period of development where cats that could do that were outcompeting
cats that weren't, to the extent that a large number of cats today can
do it.

Especially since this isn't something that can be done gradually:
the adaptations don't help in falls of 30-60 feet, or much higher than
somewhere around 100 feet (I think)...


Phil