Computing the volume of a wubble

Meditative Charley-loaf

We have not yet completed the full successive approximation needed to accurately measure Charley's volume, and this irregularly-shaped tub may or may not allow for more precise computation.

Charley in tub

He sat in there perfectly happily for some time, though.

14 Responses to “Computing the volume of a wubble”

  1. phrantic Says:

    What is it with cats? My friend's cat insisted on sleeping in a gym bag last night.. even when we zipped it up and carried kitty around the house for a bit. He was quite happy to be zipped up into the darkness, then reopened in a new environment.

    Is not like he ever left the bag once becoming ensconced anyway.

  2. Bern Says:

    One of our half-burmese moggies has an obsession with jumping inside any container you happen to be carrying. He usually "helps out" when we empty out the recycling from the bin under the sink. And all three of our cats spend time in the suitcase any time it's brought out.

    They don't really like the purpose-built hidey-hole in the cat climbing tower, though...

  3. mlipphardt Says:

    Too complicated. Simply attach weights to cat and place cat in a graduated container of water. Note the volume displaced. Remove the cat from the water and the weights from the cat. Put the weights in the water and note their displacement. The difference is the volume of the cat.

    This should be done quickly to prevent damage to the cat, and with protective clothing to prevent damage to the examiner. Note that cat may be pissed off at you for several days.

  4. mlipphardt Says:

    Sorry - the weights are to make sure the cat submerges. Otherwise you will have errors.

  5. Daniel Rutter Says:

    Ah, but as the Evil Mad Scientist page explains, the water-displacement method will only tell you the volume of "the rat-like creature that lives inside the cat; much like the feeble alien within a Dalek".

  6. Changes Says:

    Lots of people in that "washing the cat" page who aren't wearing protective gloves. It hurts just to look at the pictures and imagine what their hands will be like five seconds from the moment the picture was taken...

    By the way, you need to put a caption on Charlie and submit to icanhascheezburger :P

  7. Daniel Rutter Says:

    Extra bonus ginger twins:

    Workbench cats

    That's an old "Feet Seat" footstool that Charley's lying on (for some reason they decided not to call the product a "tuffet", or "pouffe"). The twins sleep on (or in) the workbench at night normally, and Charley had previously expressed great enthusiasm for the little bean bag, so combining the two suggested itself.

  8. Stark Says:

    You just gotta love a workbench that clearly has sword like objects along with nerf weapons as a part of it's makeup.

  9. Ziggyinc Says:

    Its the magnetic strip along the front that makes me feel like a piker

  10. FuzzyPlushroom Says:

    My Pepper loves sitting inside cardboard boxes, allocating any abandoned shoebox or similar container for his fat arse. I think they just like being enclosed.

    He's also a fan of high places (specifically atop our china cabinet), windowsills, and cheesy movie clichés.

  11. MorganGT Says:

    Our cats possess an almost infinitely variable volume, but at least their 'hamper' volume can be determined easily. 'Hamper' here refers to their tendency to interfere with whatever you are doing in order to get attention - the 'hamper' volume of a cat can be defined as the volume of airspace between your eyes and your computer monitor, as an efficient hamper cat will easily fill that volume of space.

  12. stewpot2 Says:

    Obviously the entire Swiss Army was camping in Dan's workshop...

  13. omgror Says:

    I think this sums up what's happening here.

  14. Jonadab Says:

    > the water-displacement method will only tell you the
    > volume of “the rat-like creature that lives inside..."

    Yeah, to make displacement actually work correctly I think you'd need a liquid that doesn't significantly interact with the cat's hair. That's tricky enough to find, but you also probably want it to be non-toxic to cats and humans. Most non-toxic room-temperature/standard-pressure liquids (e.g., water, corn syrup, glycerine) are going to interact with the hair in some way that will change the measurement.


Leave a Reply