On the rheology of cats

[Visaki]

Granted this study is a bit old, originally from the Volume 83 Number 2 (July 2014) issue of The News and Information Publication of The Society of Rheology. But it has been made current by it's winning the (Ig)Nobel prize for physics in 14th of September this year (http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2017).

In this letter I highlight some of the recent developments around the rheology of Felis catus, with potential applications for other species of the felidae family. In the linear rheology regime many factors can enter the determination of the characteristic time of cats: from surface effects to yield stress. In the nonlinear rheology regime flow instabilities can emerge. Nonetheless, the flow rate, which is the usual dimensional control parameter, can be hard to compute because cats are active rheological materials.

...

In conclusion, much more work remains ahead, but cats are proving to be a rich model system for rheological research, both in the linear and nonlinear regimes. Standing questions include the potential implications of the rheology of cats on their righting reflex, and whether the nonlinear self-sustaining mechanism for turbulence in pipe is applicable to streaks of tigers. Very recent experiments from Japan also suggest that we should not see cats as isolated fluid systems, but as able to transfer and absorb stresses from their environment. Indeed, in Japan, they have cat cafes, where stressed out customers can pet kitties and purr their worries away.

SOURCE: http://www.rheology.org/sor/publications/rheology_b/RB2014Jul.pdf

 

[ldmitruk]

The Annals of Improbable Research, contributing more to science than the Discovery Institute.