Buttered cat paradox
Encyclopedia
Paradox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
based on the tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
combination of two adage
Adage
An adage is a short but memorable saying which holds some important fact of experience that is considered true by many people, or that has gained some credibility through its long use....
s:
- Cats always land on their feetCat righting reflexThe cat righting reflex is a cat's innate ability to orient itself as it falls in order to land on its feet. The righting reflex begins to appear at 3-4 weeks of age, and is perfected at 7 weeks. They are able to do this as they have an unusually flexible backbone and no functional clavicle...
. - ButterButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
ed toastToastToast is bread that has been browned by exposure to radiant heat. This browning reaction is known as the Maillard reaction. Toasting warms the bread and makes it firmer, so it holds toppings more securely...
always lands buttered side down.
The paradox arises when one considers what would happen if one attached a piece of buttered toast (butter side up) to the back of a cat, then dropped the cat from a large height. The buttered cat paradox, submitted by artist John Frazee
John Frazee
John Frazee is an artist from New York City, New York. Frazee's work as a painter and sculptor is displayed around the world. He is also known for a science humor story he wrote in OMNI magazine, the Buttered cat paradox.-Education and career:...
of Kingston, New York
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
, won a 1993 OMNI
Omni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
magazine competition about paradoxes.
Thought experiments
Some people jokingly maintain that the experiment will produce an anti-gravityAnti-gravity
Anti-gravity is the idea of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism or aerodynamic lift...
effect. They propose that as the cat falls towards the ground, it will slow down and start to rotate, eventually reaching a steady state
Steady state
A system in a steady state has numerous properties that are unchanging in time. This implies that for any property p of the system, the partial derivative with respect to time is zero:...
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.
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.
In humor
The faux paradox has captured the imagination of science-oriented humorists. Testing the theory is the main theme in an episode of the comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
strip Jack B. Quick
Jack B. Quick
Jack B. Quick is a fictional character, a superhero from Alan Moore's America's Best Comics imprint. He appeared primarily in humorous stories in the anthology series Tomorrow Stories.-Character history:...
, the title character seeks to test this theory, leading to the cat hovering above the ground, with the cat's wagging tail providing propulsion. The March 31, 2005, strip of the webcomic
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
Bunny
Bunny (webcomic)
Bunny is a daily webcomic by Lem , the pseudonym of a Welsh artist named Huw Davies. Launched in August 2004, Bunny follows the gag-a-day formula, with no true plotline...
also explored the idea in the guise of a plan for a "Perpetual Motion MoggieToast 5k Power Generator", based on Sod's Law
Sod's law
Sod's law is a name for the axiom "Anything that can go wrong, will". "Toast will always land butter side down" is often given as an example of Sod's law in action...
. In Science Askew, Donald E. Simanek comments on this phenomenon.
The idea appeared on the British panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
QI
QI
QI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
, where the idea was discussed. As well as talking about the idea, they also brought up other questions regarding the paradox. These included "Would it still work if you used margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
?", "Would it still work if you used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! is a butter substitute produced by Becel/Flora/Promise, which is a subsidiary of Unilever. It was introduced to the United States in 1986 and later to the United Kingdom and Canada in 1991. The product was put on the market in Germany in 2011. Due to the length of...
?", and "What if the toast was covered in something that was not butter, but the cat thought it was butter?", the idea being that it would act like a placebo
Placebo
A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...
.
Cat righting reflex
In reality, cats do possess the ability to turn themselves right side up in mid-air if they should fall upside-down. The cat righting reflexCat righting reflex
The cat righting reflex is a cat's innate ability to orient itself as it falls in order to land on its feet. The righting reflex begins to appear at 3-4 weeks of age, and is perfected at 7 weeks. They are able to do this as they have an unusually flexible backbone and no functional clavicle...
is made possible in large part through being able to independently rotate the front and back sections of the body. This allows them to rotate without violating conservation of angular momentum by tucking in the front paws to lower the front section's moment of inertia
Moment of inertia
In classical mechanics, moment of inertia, also called mass moment of inertia, rotational inertia, polar moment of inertia of mass, or the angular mass, is a measure of an object's resistance to changes to its rotation. It is the inertia of a rotating body with respect to its rotation...
and extending the back paws to increase the back section's moment of inertia. Thus, a cat can turn the front half of its body through a considerably larger angle than the back half.
External links
- Frazee Fine Arts Website of Teresa and John Frazee.
- The Usenet Oracle where this joke appeared in 1992.
- Loopholes for the paradox