Is It Possible To Decrease Injury Per Cat Falls?
If the number of stories a cat falls increases, then the number of injuries per cat will also decrease because the higher the height of the fall, the more time a cat has to position itself for a safe landing by distributing its body mass among a wider area to ensure a decreased impact force, and for the cat to reach its terminal velocity for stability. The table on the front page of the packet shows that one through seven stories fallen shows an increase of total injuries at an average rate of change of 0.4 injuries per story fallen. The data then plateaus at seven and eight stories, where the greatest number of injuries is 2.40. Afterwards, there is a steep decline at nine stories, where the total number of injuries per cat is only 1.10,
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In other words, the cat would have little to no time to rotate its body so that it can land on its feet and evenly distribute the impact force among its four paws, resulting in lesser injury. Also, in the article Why Cats Have Nine Lives, the author Jared Diamond mentions, “Cats’ lower ratio of mass to area also means that they reach a terminal velocity of a mere 60 mph within five stories of a free fall, compared with our terminal velocity of 120 mph”. In addition, having a relatively small body mass distributed over a wider area means that the body can attain a lower terminal velocity, and that terminal velocity can be reached in a quicker amount of time to where the body is not gaining speed for the rest of the fall, giving the organism more stability to reposition itself. Also, the data given by Diamond corresponds to the data given in the table, considering that if a cat were to fall from a building that is from one to five stories tall, it would take the whole falling time to reach terminal velocity, making it harder for the cat to stabilize and resulting in further
In other words, the cat would have little to no time to rotate its body so that it can land on its feet and evenly distribute the impact force among its four paws, resulting in lesser injury. Also, in the article Why Cats Have Nine Lives, the author Jared Diamond mentions, “Cats’ lower ratio of mass to area also means that they reach a terminal velocity of a mere 60 mph within five stories of a free fall, compared with our terminal velocity of 120 mph”. In addition, having a relatively small body mass distributed over a wider area means that the body can attain a lower terminal velocity, and that terminal velocity can be reached in a quicker amount of time to where the body is not gaining speed for the rest of the fall, giving the organism more stability to reposition itself. Also, the data given by Diamond corresponds to the data given in the table, considering that if a cat were to fall from a building that is from one to five stories tall, it would take the whole falling time to reach terminal velocity, making it harder for the cat to stabilize and resulting in further