Louie the cat has always been a dare devil, because if you know cats they love being up on high places, but Louie wasn’t one of those cats who would climb up a tree and be afraid to jump down. He was in it for the thrill of the fall, and for him, the higher the better. Louie’ mom was worried about him though; she didn’t like the fact that he would climb a tree and be so fearful of not hurting himself when he would jump down to the ground. She asked him to stay to lower heights like a deck or a window sill. So even though Louie did not enjoy this he felt that he should listen to his mother and stay to lower heights to jump from. After a week of jumping from these lower heights Louie was in more pain than ever,his legs, joints, muscles, and paws were so sore and achy and he couldn’t understand why. When he told his mom this she just told him to stop jumping from heights all together! Louie was not about to do this, but he wondered why what he having less injuries falling from higher heights with a longer fall then that of lower heights and less of a fall? Louie decided to do some research on this, so he went to the smartest cat he knew, Figaro, who owner is a physics professor. Louie asked Figaro “why is it when I fall from higher heights like a tall oak tree, I don’t get injured at all, but the other day when I jumped from a 5 foot tall deck I almost broke my leg?” “That’s a great question, Louie”, said Figaro, “Well to start off when we fall we use our flexibility which helps lengthen the time of the landing and this then reduces the force of the fall on us. With this felexability we also have a remarkable sense of balance, agility, and ability to spring up onto high levels and land from them, all these attributes make it possible by our flexability nature of our joints and vertebrae.(Serene Lai, Pets Ca.) Also we cats have a skill called “righting reflex” which no matter how we fall we can turn our bodies to prepare for hitting the ground so we are not hurt.( Cat diaries). And as we fall the force of the air drag that pushes upward on us increases. So with this, when u take a fall from an even higher height you are making your fall longer, right?” “Right!” said Louie enthusiastically. “Yes, so then the air drag may become long enough to reduce your downward acceleration. My owner told me that if it is more than 6 floors, the air force can become large enough to match the gravitational force pulling downward on you, so if this happens than you can fall without acceleration and at a constant speed which is known as terminal speed. What do you feel like Louie when you fall from really high heights?” “I feel relaxed, actually” said Louie. “Exactly that is termal speed, because once terminal speed is reached the acceleration disappears, which makes you relax somewhat and you actually instinctively spread your legs outwards ready to land. Doing this it causes the air drag to automatically increase, which reduces your speed. So you see Louie, the longer the fall, the more speed is reduced, making it a better chance of escaping any serious injury.” Said Figaro. “Wow I get it now! It makes so much sense to why I can be fearless when jumping from the tall tress and high heights! Thank you so much Figaro!” “ No problem, Louie!” Louie ran home and told his mom what Figaro told him, his mom knew of how smart Figaro was and trusted that he was right in his explanation, so she allowed Louie to jump from those high heights he loved so much. Louie was so happy to return to the fearless falls he loved so much, and was even happier his mom did not worry so much about him any more!