Are Cats Liquid?
By Marc-Antoine Fardin
November 10, 2017
A liquid is traditionally defined as a material that adapts its shape to fit a container. Yet under certain conditions, cats seem to fit this definition.
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Here a cat, whose body fits perfectly within a sink, behaves like a liquid. William McCamment, CC BY-SA
This somewhat paradoxical observation emerged on the web a few years ago and joined the long list of internet memes involving our feline friends. When I first saw this question it made me laugh, and then think. I decided to reformulate it to illustrate some problems at the heart of rheology, the study of the deformations and flows of matter. My study on the rheology of cats won the 2017 Ig Nobel Prize in Physics.
The prizes are awarded every year by Improbable Research, an organization devoted to science and humor. The goal is to highlight scientific studies that first make people laugh, then think. A ceremony is held every year at Harvard University.
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http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2017/11/10/the_question_that_won_me_the_ig_nobel_prize_are_cats_liquid__110450.html
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