Cat Density?

[Steve_in_Florida]

Slightly off-topic, but it pertains to my avatar.

Let me state that my cat, Terrapin, is a good sport about most things.

I know my cat's weight, as the vet weighs her whenever I take her in for shots.

I would like to calculate her volume, as I call her "Terrapin, the 1200cc ThunderKitty". I just want to find out if her moniker is accurate.

The last time I was at the vet, I asked if there was a constant value for "cat density". If I had this value, I could multiply it by her current weight, and determine her volume. Needless to say, the vet looked at me like I was CRAZY! He said that if I wanted to find out her volume, I should immerse her in water and see how much she displaced.

Hopefully, you can see my dilemma. I predict teeth, claws and fur (mine).

Anyone? Beuller?

Steve, the guy who's curious about mundane things.

[tmkaos]

if I wanted to find out her volume, I should immerse her in water and see how much she displaced.

Hopefully, you can see my dilemma. I predict teeth, claws and fur (mine).

I believe you will also discover that Terrapin also holds the answer to proving the theory of relativity.. Once you attempt to immerse her, she will instantanesly attain the speed of light, in the oppposite direction to the flow of water. And since she has to take the energy to do this from somewhere, I believe her solution will be to convert large portions of your body to atomic particles by using her claws. You will also find out exactly how much mass you have to lose to convert your cat to light speed. Working backwards from that you may be able to calculate her density if you know her weight, and yours prior to starting.
So, weigh yourself, and then buy a speech operated calculator, and then dunk her.

I'll be interested to hear how it goes. 

James

[Shaun]

May get you close

Density of a small animal suspended in a solution of alcohol and water?
A small animal is found to remain suspended in a mixture of 19.3 percent (by weight) alcohol and 80.7 percent water. What is the density of the animal?
Additional Details
Alcohol is an umbrella category many kinds fall into it (Ha no pun intended)
Density of alcohol is not given but we can use this one, Ethanol: 0.789 g/mL at 25 °C.
Density of water assumed to be 1000kg/m^3

(.193*.789) + (1*.807) =.96 kg/L of possible cat so the search of the web says

Other method would be welding gloves and a sink, might be tough at first but it will get easier over time...
Can't confirm or deny but hey there you go my wife likes our cat.

[soundmindryan]

Hopefully, you can see my dilemma. I predict teeth, claws and fur (mine).

On this insane topic: My wife use to breed Persian cats. They aren't known for superior personal hygiene so I was required to bathe them from time to time. 
I would begin by smearing Goop (yes, hand cleaner) all over the cat's fur so the long Persian hair is completely saturated with it. Then I would don a pair of gauntlet style welding gloves and while pressing said cat to the bottom of the tub, rinse the goop out with a hand held sprayer. Not fun. Then lather the cat up with baby shampoo and rinse. This process may induce some of you non cat lovers to giggle with delight. (I sure did) But then came the drying. (true story) I would take an old bird cage with the bottom off. Put the cat down on the floor and set the bird cage on top of the cat. Then I'd break out the hair dryer. You would not believe the contortions and acrobatic feats that a cat can attain while trying to avoid a hair dryer while trapped in the cage. I really don't think they cared for it much.  It worked very well to dry the cat completely because it would frequently hang upside down so I could dry its belly. Eventually, the cats do get used to this bathing process and put up less of a fight each time. I can say I've never found anything like this on the internet. (this was before youtube)

I say all this to say: Never try to baptize a cat..

[nurse]

I have met some really clever people on this forum, but sometimes the answer is a lot easier than all this technical application.

Step 1. Drop cat into blender (does not matter which way up - as cats always land feet first so this therefore will not cause any difficulty to end readings).  If you do not have a blender, a home garbage disposal unit may be able to be suitably adapted for this purpose.

Step 2. Quickly, but carefully, put on lid.  Ensure no sections of tail or limbs are outside of the blender as this may affect accuracy of results.

Step 3.  Turn blender onto highest setting and leave for 1-2 minutes.  If lumps of bone remain whole give the blender the odd shake to ensure all skeletal parts make good contact with the razor sharp, high speed, rotating blades. 

Step 4.  Leave to stand for a few minutes to allow trapped air bubbles to escape then empty into accurate measuring jug, et voila - one feline avec C.C. measurable mass.

N.B. if you do not have a measuring vessel you could also try carefully pouring the liquid into the cylinders of your motorcycle via the inlet manifold, taking carefull note of how many it fills.  The reliablity of this method however cannot be entirly relied upon as the position of each piston in the cylinder can greatly reduce the accuracy of the results.  There have also been reports of reliability issues when starting the engine after this method of cat density assessment has been employed.


In areas where this method has been utilised a significant drop in cat crap in the neighbours flowers has been observed, therefore this method is felt to be extremely cost effective as it has a number of additional benefits.

Happy Cat density measuring.

[The General]

Had a dense cat.         Once.

Still it taught me a bit about cats.

Out camping in the scrub one night when a mate (Mick) asked me a handy-to-know Question. How  do  you  stop  a  cat  from  spitting?




I told the dickhead to turn down the grill a bit. 

[Steve_in_Florida]

Lotta "cat love" in the room, I see...

[flips]

Hi Steve.

The easier/safer solution would be to find a fresh road kill cat as your test subject,weigh, then immerse in water to find the applicable weight volume ratio to extrapolate the approximate density of the thunderkitty.
This would only give you an estimate as the vagaries of cat fitness/diet/hydration would also affect the calculation.

Additional reading...

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0396.2010.01107.x/abstract

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Jeff P

[oldktmdude]

    Does it have to be dead before you immerse it?     

[flips]

    Does it have to be dead before you immerse it?     

For the health And safety of the tester,at least unconscious....

[oldktmdude]

    Does it have to be dead before you immerse it?     

For the health And safety of the tester,at least unconscious....

That's right, I keep forgetting about our crazy O H and S rules and regulations!