Imabench's 300th Debate!!! Resolved: Cats are Liquids

Thank you to imabench for initiating this debate on this very important subject. As a friend of all cats everywhere (provided they don’t bite or scratch me or anything like that), I am compelled to defend the good reputations of our furry feline friends as non-liquids. Fixed Mass The first point I’d like to raise is the issues of mass. Pro writes: “Cats take up the same amount of space and therefore have the same amount of mass, so this part of the definition is met.” This is an unproved assertion if ever I saw one. No evidence is offered to support Pro’s claim other than “The claim is true, therefore the claim is true.” Ladies and gentlemen of DDO, I am here today to tell you that cats do not necessarily have fixed mass. First, let’s analyze what is meant by “fixed mass.” Fixed is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary online as: “not subject to change or fluctuation” [1]. Whether or not something changes or fluctuates can only be seen by observing that thing over a period of time and seeing whether changes occur. Therefore, if something is said to be fixed, it is said not to change over a period of time.Mass is defined as “the property of a body that is a measure of its inertia, that is commonly taken as a measure of the amount of material it contains, that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field, and that along with length and time constitutes one of the fundamental quantities on which all physical measurements are based” [2]. Or, to summarize that, mass can be described as how much space an object takes up. In putting the two definitions together, we see that “fixed mass” means that something has takes up the same amount of space over a period of time. So now, this standard must be applied to cats. The videos on the side demonstrate that over time, cats change the amount of space they take up. http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com... If you don’t have time to watch the whole videos, at least be sure to observe the amount of space the cats take up at the beginning of the videos and then skip to the end to see how much space they take up then. The mass clearly increases. The evidence clearly negates Pro’s unsupported assertion. Fixed Volume Regarding the issue of volume, Pro writes: “Volume is the # dimensional measurement of how much space an object takes up. So an object that has a constant mass will naturally have a constant volume when placed in water.” Pro argues that volume is dependent on mass, a correct assertion. Therefore, if the mass changes, then the volume will change as well. Since I have demonstrated that cats do not have fixed masses, then they also do not have fixed volumes. Taking the Shape of the Container I have been so mesmerized by the cuteness of Pro’s photos to support this contention that I am unable to think of a good rebuttal. Therefore, I must concede this point.Conclusion All I had to do was to prove that Cats are not liquids was to demonstrate that at least one component of the definition of liquid does not apply to cats. I succeeded in proving that the first to parts of the definition do not apply to cats. This in itself wins me the debate. The verdict is clear: Cats are most certainly not liquids. The resolution stands negated. Sources: [1]- http://www.merriam-webster.com... [2]- http://www.merriam-webster.com... [3]- http://en.wikipedia.org... [4]- http://en.wikipedia.org...