REDLAND
Active member
If you tape a piece of toast to a cats back, buttered side up and throw it out of a high rise window.. Will it ever land ??
A question for the theorists
- Thread starter REDLAND
- Start date
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Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Hungry Joe
SINNEN
REDLAND said:
Tyrone Biggums
Well-known member
The Buttered toast theory is false, it doesnt effect wether the toast lands butter up or butter down.
Myth Busters busted that theory.
Myth Busters busted that theory.
Hungry Joe
SINNEN
Yes, I like it Tim, that makes SENSE 
Lokki 7
WSU
REDLAND said:
Only on the 10th attempt.
Trufflehound
Re-enfranchised
REDLAND said:
Depends on how aerodynamically the toast is shaped. It could catch an updraft and be wafting around for days on the thermals.
Why would you want to butter a cat's back anyway?
- Aug 7, 2003
- 8,093
While the paradox originated as a tongue-in-cheek combination of two bits of folk advice, it ended up creating some interesting thought experiments to analyse what would happen if one assume the two rules here would always occur.
Some people jokingly maintain that the experiment will produce an anti-gravity effect. They propose that as the cat falls towards the ground, it will slow down and start to rotate, eventually reaching a steady state of hovering a short distance from the ground while rotating at high speed as both the buttered side of the toast and the cat’s feet attempt to land on the ground. This, however, would require the energy that keeps them rotating and hovering to come from somewhere, otherwise it would violate the Law of Conservation of Energy. There could be multiple ways the cat and toast achieve this - for one, they could draw heat from the air, or sunlight, and convert it into direct kinetic energy; though this would prove hard to do, it is theoretically possible.
Another response is that the cat will land on its feet, and immediately roll over on its back. This, however, means that the cat's feet were stronger than the toast's buttered side insofar as its attraction to the ground, but once on the ground the buttered toast's attraction overpowered the cat's feet. This would give rise to another question: which is stronger, the cat's movement to land on its feet or the toast's butter-side attraction to the ground? (The reverse could also be true – the toast lands first buttered-side-down, and then the cat rolls onto its feet; this would assume that the cat did not suffer a major spinal injury landing on its back.)
Another belief is that the world will end when a piece of buttered toast is tied to the back of a cat. Both attractions to land would make the cat start to slowly spin. In the opposition of forces, the cat would start to spin faster and faster. In order to maintain this inevitable spin speed, the cat and toast will draw energy from the environment and convert it to a form useable for the rotations. However, with each conversion of energy to a different form, entropy in the universe increases. Because the cat and toast will spin at an exponentially increasing rate, so will the entropy in the universe. In a very short period of time, the level will be so high, the universe will be destroyed.
In June 2003, Kimberly Miner won a Student Academy Award for her film Perpetual Motion. Miner based her film on a paper written by a high-school friend that explored the potential implications of the cat and buttered toast idea
Some people jokingly maintain that the experiment will produce an anti-gravity effect. They propose that as the cat falls towards the ground, it will slow down and start to rotate, eventually reaching a steady state of hovering a short distance from the ground while rotating at high speed as both the buttered side of the toast and the cat’s feet attempt to land on the ground. This, however, would require the energy that keeps them rotating and hovering to come from somewhere, otherwise it would violate the Law of Conservation of Energy. There could be multiple ways the cat and toast achieve this - for one, they could draw heat from the air, or sunlight, and convert it into direct kinetic energy; though this would prove hard to do, it is theoretically possible.
Another response is that the cat will land on its feet, and immediately roll over on its back. This, however, means that the cat's feet were stronger than the toast's buttered side insofar as its attraction to the ground, but once on the ground the buttered toast's attraction overpowered the cat's feet. This would give rise to another question: which is stronger, the cat's movement to land on its feet or the toast's butter-side attraction to the ground? (The reverse could also be true – the toast lands first buttered-side-down, and then the cat rolls onto its feet; this would assume that the cat did not suffer a major spinal injury landing on its back.)
Another belief is that the world will end when a piece of buttered toast is tied to the back of a cat. Both attractions to land would make the cat start to slowly spin. In the opposition of forces, the cat would start to spin faster and faster. In order to maintain this inevitable spin speed, the cat and toast will draw energy from the environment and convert it to a form useable for the rotations. However, with each conversion of energy to a different form, entropy in the universe increases. Because the cat and toast will spin at an exponentially increasing rate, so will the entropy in the universe. In a very short period of time, the level will be so high, the universe will be destroyed.
In June 2003, Kimberly Miner won a Student Academy Award for her film Perpetual Motion. Miner based her film on a paper written by a high-school friend that explored the potential implications of the cat and buttered toast idea
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Hungry Joe
SINNEN
Well that's cleared that up then, cheers.
Herne Hill Seagull
Well-known member
I'd bet good money that Redland wasn't expecting such a full and comprehensive answer...
NMH
Banned
probably gobsmacked that someone had a complete theory all worked out replete with a diagram for this surprising thread that just sprung up out of nowhere
Garry Nelson's Left Foot
Well-known member
The Antikythera Mechanism said:
I'm no scientist-infact my old teacher thought I might not even pass my G.C.S.E, but surely there's another possible outcome?
Assuming gravity will have it's wicked way and bring both cat and toast down to earth, if the cat and the toast have equal, er, desire to land first is it at all possible that neither will, in fact, land first, rather they'll cancel each other out and the cat will land on it's side?
colinpants
IT CONSULTANT
- Jan 24, 2005
- 788
Bry Nylon said:Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in
binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why not stay on the ground and look through a pair of binoculars the wrong way round and pretend to be on top of a tall building.
What is the speed of darkness?
BensGrandad
New member
Why is the needle sterilised before giving a lethal injection in America.
Vankleek Hill Seagull
Well-known member
BensGrandad said:
The needles and equipment used are also sterilized. One reason for this is because the needles are standard medical products that are sterilized during manufacturing. Also, there is a chance that the prisoner could receive a stay of execution after the needles have been inserted as happened in the case of James Autry in October 1983 (he was executed eventually on 14 March 1984). Finally, it would also be a hazard for those handling unsterile equipment.