How does a falling cat always land on its feet?
A dynamical explanation of the falling cat phenomenon
Engineers modelled a cat as two linked cylinders to explain how it flips upright in mid-air without pushing off anything.
A dropped cat twists round and lands on its feet, which puzzled physicists because it has nothing to push against. Two Stanford engineers modelled the cat as two cylinders joined at the waist that can bend and twist.
Their maths showed that by bending in the middle and swivelling each half, the cat can turn right over while its total spin stays at zero. Cats: solving tricky mechanics problems since long before anyone wrote them down.
Physics allows the cat to land on its feet. The cat would like that noted.