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jfields

Terminal Velocity of a Cat

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If you had to estimate, what is the terminal velocity of a cat?

Disclaimer:
Before anyone freaks out, I'm not going to throw a cat out of a plane, or suggest anyone else do it. It just came up in conversation elsewhere and I was at a loss to provide a reasonable estimate.

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I would say.......70 mph.

And I'm not even going to wonder how it "came up in conversation".....I've heard some of your conversations. :P

Edit -- well, I was close.


Don
"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

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If you took a 15lb cat strapped a Sabre 150 to it's back. Deployed the chute at 10k feet. How long would it take the cat to reach the ground and how far away from the DZ would it land? With a 8mph mid to ground level wind.

Don't ask me, just an inane question that popped into my head. There are enough math geeks on this site to answer this one.



"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

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a) How the f@#$ did you come up with that link so quickly? (You sicko...;))

b) This research suggests that 95% of cats would survive freefall from altitude...:)

c) Nevermind skyballs/spaceballs. We could freefly with a live cat....:P

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A better one is "If you attached a cat to a Vector Tandem Drogue and chucked it out at 3500 AGL, how many times would it climb the bridle, collapse the drouge, fall off causing the bridle to stretch out and re-inflate the drouge, before it hit the ground?"

"Now how about with Strong Tandem Drogue?"
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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A better one is "If you attached a cat to a Vector Tandem Drogue and chucked it out at 3500 AGL, how many times would it climb the bridle, collapse the drouge, fall off causing the bridle to stretch out and re-inflate the drouge, bfore it hit the ground?"

"Now how about with Strong Tandem Drogue?"


Ok now I'm worried about you!! Plus all the cats near your DZ. Your description of this hypothetical event sounds way to real to have just come out of now where.


Oh I guess 5 times before impact with the ground.



"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

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Remember that cats have extra skin under their arms (kinda like 70yo Waffle House waitresses except without the cigarette). Once they relax, they spread out their legs. The extra underarm skin acts like a camera suit wing and they cup air. They slow way down. Plus they get extra drag from the fur.

50mph max.

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Remember that cats have extra skin under their arms (kinda like 70yo Waffle House waitresses except without the cigarette). Once they relax, they spread out their legs. The extra underarm skin acts like a camera suit wing and they cup air. They slow way down. Plus they get extra drag from the fur.

50mph max.



wow. well thought out! impressive! B|

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We could freefly with a live cat...



I'm in.



A few years ago, when we started cat-passing, I came up with a brilliant way to ensure we get to re-use the cat. Cheap and effective as well. Maybe painful for the cat, but it worked.
it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

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>We could freefly with a live cat...

That's been attempted. The cat displayed remarkable agility in not only refusing to let go of the person attempting the experiment, but in managing to tear him up pretty good. He deployed, thinking that would get the cat off him. No luck. He finally decided that he would "terminate the experiment" as soon as he got to the ground, but the cat was thinking ahead and jumped off when he was five feet off the ground. Cat 1, skydiver 0 at least for that round.

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wow. well thought out! impressive! B|



This guy actually wrote a book on it.

J.M.Daimond. How cats survive falls from New York skyscrapers. Natural History 98,no.8,20-26(1989)

Happy you got some cliff notes? I can't sustain enough concentration to read that link.. WTF did the doctor actually do?



"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

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