Talk:High–rise syndrome

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[edit] Eh! wat teh *&%^ Cats falling out of windows

If you would like to talk to me about this article please do so here PhilB ~ ^T/_C 15:19, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] More likely to survive from higher height

I heard on MythBusters or something like that, that the reason a cat is more likely to survive a fall from say a 10 story building than a 5 story building is as follows.

1. A cat falls out a window. It rights itself and tenses its body in response to the sensation of acceleration.
2. Around 5 stories, it relaxes as it reached terminal velocity and is now longer experiencing acceleration.
3. this in turn causes further deceleration because the relaxed cat body is a better parachute ( i.e. more aero drag) than the tensed cat body.
4. This slows the cat down enough that the damaged caused by impact is substantially less than that of the cat falling and not having a chance to relax.

I do NOT have a source handy to back this up, so that's why I didn't add it to the article, but I wanted to propose it and contribute it. Maybe someone has the source on it but hasn't thought about it in a while. Dachande (talk) 18:15, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] High-rise syndrome

The substantiating reference for the line about 90% survival to the Straight Dope reference is pretty questionable. The article referenced makes a fairly compelling case that the stat in question is dodgy - the argument is that the cats that don't survive aren't reported, skewing the statistic upward. There's room for debate, but it's a bit dishonest to reference that point by linking to an article that actually argues the phenomenon is overstated.

Thoughts? More broadly, should this article be revised in light of the questions over the subject, beyond this one reference? Is anyone familiar with anyone else who casts doubt on 'high-rise syndrome', or is it only the Straight Dope article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.253.110.57 (talk) 08:04, 25 March 2008 (UTC)