The cat divides its body in two separate rotational axis that are tilled from another when it released, it pulls its front paws in and does the ice state trick.The cat decreased its moment of inertia in from. so it can spin fast up there, but in the back it pushes its legs away from him, increasing his moment of inertia, so a really large twist in the front equals a really small twist in the back in the opposite direction and the torques equals out. So, as soon as the cat gets his front paws in under him, all it has to do is extend these legs out to increase that moment of inertia and stop the front twist, extended its back legs along that rear axis. that allows the cat to twist those around really fast and then all it has to do is pull them back in under his body and then extend all four legs and absorb impact.
As Smarter Every Day demonstrated with this awesome slow-mo footage, describe cats actually use the two halves of their bodies separately to ensure rapid rotation (don't try this at home).
Watch the full video here:
