this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The cat won't be able to maintain its top speed because of deceleration from lack of friction

[–] Windex007 17 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Good point. It has zero contact force at the apex, so 14m is an upper bound on possible cat-loops.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

True. But if top speed allows for 14 meters, surely a 1.5 to 2 m loop should be possible (especially given a cat's incredible reflexes and control given a lack of friction or even freefall). I'd guess that a cat, given enough motivation, could keep running under the little friction provided by the centripetal force for a few hundred milliseconds - likely long enough to complete a 1m loop, maybe even 2, given sufficient space for a top-speed run before entering...