Have you heard of Murphy's Law??
By Tir_Na_nOg
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
Ireland
April 5, 2007 10:48am CST
According to Murphy's Law, if a piece of buttered toast falls to the ground it almost always lands butter side down. If a cat falls to the ground, it most always lands on it's feet. What do you think would happen if a piece of toast was tied to a cat's back, butter side up and both fell to the ground? Will the cat land on it's feet with the toast butter side up or will the toast land on the ground with the cat's feet in the air? I don't know the answer so I thought some myLot members could tell me.
6 people like this
4 responses
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
• Ireland
5 Apr 07
Ah, but I forgot to mention that the bread was baked by my wife and it weighed a ton...just kidding. Lol. Thanks for commenting gabs.
4 people like this
@theproperator (2429)
• United States
5 Apr 07
Let's look at this scientifically, shall we? :-)
The added weight of the butter to one side of the toast, plus the added aerodynamics of the smooth butter versus the comparatively rough texture of the unbuttered side are waht cause the toast to turn butter-side down during free-fall, regardless of its position when dropped.
A falling cat uses its tail and flexable spine to flip itself in mid air so that its feet are under it. The cat is infact, fighting its natural aerodynamice to do this, since its body is generally heavier than its legs and the fur, being all over the body, give no decernable advantage.
So the cat must deliver enough mechanical force to overcome its own inertia and attitude. Since the cat uses active forces to overcome its natural disposition (to fall on its back) one would presume that this active force would also be able to counter the passive forces of the buttered toast. Unless, of course you had a very big piece of toast with lots of butter and a very high drop... hmmm...
I believe we should seek a research grant for further investigation of this phenomenon, using cat sized pieces of toast, and lifelike cat robots (real cats don't take to this kind of experiment particularly well, especailly the second time you try to tie toast to them and they know what's coming).
4 people like this
@someonesmom (5761)
• Canada
9 Apr 07
If we were talking about my cat, she wouldn't 'allow' us to tie a piece of toast to her back in the first place. Even though she's normally a very affectionate cat, she'd be doing her best to nip our fingers, while hissing at the same time. If we did succeed, she'd find a way to wriggle loose of the rope/whatever, and would proceed to lick all of the butter off of the toast, hence resulting in a failed experiment.
2 people like this
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
• Ireland
9 Apr 07
Seems to me that you have one cute little kitty. I really don't think that I could be so cruel as to try this experiment on a real live cat as I love animals and I couldn't bear to see them hurt. Thanks for your fun response.
3 people like this
@Augustta (1850)
• Poland
14 Apr 07
I like this: " you will always find something in the last place you look"(and is soooooooo true),and "When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman,it will work perfectly." lol...
...as about "everyone has a scheme for getting rich that will not work..."...we just proof with mylot..ha ha ha...
augusta
2 people like this
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
• Ireland
14 Apr 07
I just love your sense of humour Augustta and I agree with everything you say...even about myLot. But as long as we are enjoying ourselves, that's all that matters. Thanks for responding.
1 person likes this