The Force of Attraction Between the Human Tibia and Felis Domesticus

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon regarding cats, shins,
food and how late I am for work. In general, cats appear to be
attracted to shins. This appears to be a relatively weak force,
usually resulting in nearby cats rubbing up against human shins.
However, two factors seem to affect the magnitude of this force:
the mass of food the human is carrying and the amount of time
the human is running behind schedule.

For example, a human who is 10 minutes late for work and carrying
a bowl of cat food will cause an increase in this force such that
a cat will hurl itself at his/her shins with sufficient velocity
to cause the human to stumble.

I haven't been able to take any measurements yet but I suspect
that the food mass and lateness factors are multiplicative. If
this is true, (and this is just back-of-an-envelope scribbling)
a human who is running two hours late and is carrying 30 lb of
brisket could expect to be pelted with hypersonic cats from
neighboring counties.

sounds about right to me!

--
Sandra

Steve DeGroof wrote:

---------------------snip----------------------
I haven't been able to take any measurements yet but I suspect
that the food mass and lateness factors are multiplicative. If
this is true, (and this is just back-of-an-envelope scribbling)
a human who is running two hours late and is carrying 30 lb of
brisket could expect to be pelted with hypersonic cats from
neighboring counties.

I suspect that there's some sort of limiting factor you're not
accounting for. Otherwise, a meat truck driver running very late on
making deliveries might be attracting cats from other solar systems.

Regards and Purrs,
O J

[[I've noticed an interesting phenomenon regarding cats, shins,
food and how late I am for work. In general, cats appear to be
attracted to shins. This appears to be a relatively weak force,
usually resulting in nearby cats rubbing up against human shins.
However, two factors seem to affect the magnitude of this force:
the mass of food the human is carrying and the amount of time
the human is running behind schedule.

For example, a human who is 10 minutes late for work and carrying
a bowl of cat food will cause an increase in this force such that
a cat will hurl itself at his/her shins with sufficient velocity
to cause the human to stumble.

I haven't been able to take any measurements yet but I suspect
that the food mass and lateness factors are multiplicative. If
this is true, (and this is just back-of-an-envelope scribbling)
a human who is running two hours late and is carrying 30 lb of
brisket could expect to be pelted with hypersonic cats from
neighboring counties.]]

LOL!

I'd add one more factor. The human's klutziness may well play a part.
Klutzy people like me, who could trip over their own shadow, are probably
more likely to end up with a cat who's in the optimum position to
precipitate a crash-landing of said human. This is particularly true if
the food the human is carrying will create a major mess when the human
falls over the cat.

Donna, Captain, and Stanley