Today I was reading a special segment in Mashable named Retronaut and I came across this super-interesting article written by Chris Wild. It was told that the famous falling cat phenomenon helped NASA scientists to prepare their astronauts for zero gravity environments.

What is the Falling Cat Phenomenon?

Now it is a well-known fact that a cat which is falling upside down, has the ability to turn its body mid-air so that it lands on its feet. In past, many scientists such as George Gabriel Stokes, James Clerk Maxwell, and Étienne-Jules Marey had shown great interest in the falling cat problem. Many of these scientists were just curious and nobody did any research on this problem. In a letter to his wife, Katherine Mary Clerk Maxwell, Maxwell wrote:

“There is a tradition in Trinity that when I was here I discovered a method of throwing a cat so as not to light on its feet, and that I used to throw cats out of windows. I had to explain that the proper object of research was to find how quick the cat would turn round, and that the proper method was to let the cat drop on a table or bed from about two inches, and that even then the cat lights on her feet.”

How the Falling Cat Phenomenon Helped NASA Prepare Astronauts for Zero Gravity?

In 1969, in a research funded by NASA, T.R. Kane and M.P. Scher of Stanford, California published a paper in the International Journal of Solids and Structures titled “A Dynamical Explanation of the Falling Cat Phenomenon.”

They created an experimental model cat using two joint cylinders. They flexed and bent together and with the help of this model cat, they derived differential equations to explain the study. NASA funded the study because it was interested they wanted to develop ways to help astronauts to orient their bodies in zero gravity environments of space. These scientists then worked with NASA and they used the equations to develop moves which were tested by a gymnast on a trampoline.

IMAGES: RALPH CRANE/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES

Source: Retronaut on Mashable

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