A cat that is held upside down and dropped with no initial angular momentum manages to land on its feet. Does the cat need to acquire any angular momentum to do this? Explain your reasoning.

Question

Lance Lucero

Physics

18 November, 07:27

A cat that is held upside down and dropped with no initial angular momentum manages to land on its feet. Does the cat need to acquire any angular momentum to do this? Explain your reasoning.

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Answers (1)

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Ansley Orozco · Answer 1

If initially the moment is zero, the final angular momentum must be different from zero in short, some momentum must be acquired during the fall

Explanation:

The cat that falls under the action of gravity is subjected to a torque given by

τ = F r = d L / dt

Where the force is the force of gravity, r is the distance of this force to the center of mass of the cat that is slightly changed with the movement, whereby the variation of the angular momentum is different from zero.

If initially the moment is zero, the final angular momentum must be different from zero in short, some momentum must be acquired during the fall