Question
Answer the following about the study of falling cats, for 10 points each.
[10h] The study of falling cats began since treating cats as a single rigid body means the cat-righting reflex is a violation of this law. This law holds when the partial derivative of the Lagrangian with respect to theta is zero.
ANSWER: conservation of angular momentum [accept angular momentum is conserved; prompt on conservation; prompt on Kepler’s second law; reject “conservation of momentum”; reject “conservation of linear momentum”]
[10m] In Kane and Scher’s solution to the problem, cats are modeled as two of these solids. Radial, azimuthal, and height coordinates make up this 3 dimensional shape’s coordinate system.
ANSWER: cylinders [accept cylindrical coordinates]
[10e] To control the speed of their rotation, falling cats extend and retract their legs, which changes their value for this quantity. It is the angular analogue of mass.
ANSWER: moment of inertia [or rotational inertia; prompt on I; reject inertia]
<Physics>
Summary
| 2024 ACF Fall at Cornell | fall | Y | 9 | 13.33 | 100% | 11% | 22% |
| 2024 ACF Fall at Ohio State | fall | Y | 8 | 13.75 | 75% | 38% | 25% |
| 2024 ACF Fall at Georgia | fall | Y | 13 | 14.62 | 92% | 31% | 23% |
| 2024 ACF Fall at North Carolina | fall | Y | 9 | 11.11 | 67% | 33% | 11% |
| 2024 ACF Fall at Claremont Colleges | fall | Y | 5 | 24.00 | 80% | 100% | 60% |
| 2024 ACF Fall at Illinois | fall | Y | 9 | 16.67 | 100% | 33% | 33% |
Data
| Chicago A | Illinois D | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Northwestern A | Chicago B | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Illinois A | Iowa B | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Purdue B | Indiana | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| Northwestern B | Iowa A | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| Illinois B | Notre Dame A | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| Illinois C | Purdue A | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| WashU A | SIUE | 10 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Notre Dame C | WashU B | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |