Sprinting as Fast as You Can Will Keep You Drier In the Rain, Says Physics - Polidicks

[quote] A physicist has put forth new ideas in the long-running question of how best to keep dry when moving in the rain. If you run, you are out in the rain for less time, yet you run into more drops - so what is the optimal speed? Franco Bocci, reporting in the European Journal of Physics, now asserts that both wind direction and a person's stature figure into the answer. In most cases, the general answer is to run as fast as possible; but the answer changes in a tailwind, or for the thin. Prof Bocci is by no means the first person to address the problem, which is far more mathematically complex than it seems on the surface. In the 1970s, a number of papers came out in mathematics magazines debating the question, each more fully exploring the issues at hand. The battleground for this bit of hobby mathematics now seems to be the UK's Institute of Physics publication the European Journal of Physics. In 1987, another Italian researcher asserted in the journal that changing strategies did not make a substantial difference. In 2011, a textile expert and a physicist used the same publication to suggest that an optimal speed existed, depending on the wind direction. "For the most part in the previous work, there was a simple answer, but I found that the problem is much more complicated," Prof Bocci told BBC News. What complicates the question is the human shape; for simplicity, previous attempts to crack the thorny problem assumed people to be thin sheets or upright, rectangular boxes. When Prof Bocci considered a more general case - likely to be the case you would face in the rain - he found that the answer may depend on an individual's height-to-breadth ratio as well as wind direction and raindrop size. Luckily there are a few generalisations in the analysis, to spare you having to calculate the cosine of the angle between your path and the wind direction. "Let's say that in general, the best thing is to run, as fast as you can - not always, but in general," said Prof Bocci. "If you're really thin, it's more probable that there will be an optimal speed. Otherwise, it's better to run fast." As for wind direction - and again, in general - you should run as fast as you can unless the wind is behind you, in which case the optimal speed will be exactly the speed of the wind. Prof Bocci said that the problem promises to get even more complicated as more factors are taken into account, but that for now he is drying his hands of the question.[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18901072[/url] Thanks Physics

Didn't mythbusters test this out?

Thank you Bocci, I can get out in the rain again thanks to you

[QUOTE=darkrei9n;36912432]Didn't mythbusters test this out?[/QUOTE] I know they did with a convertible. The faster they went, the less rain reached the driver, but if they stopped, they got soaked. Or something like that.

[QUOTE=QuikKill;36912440]I know they did with a convertible. The faster they went, the less rain reached the driver, but if they stopped, they got soaked. Or something like that.[/QUOTE] They did it by walking and running too.

I assumed a million different things but always went with the first - If i run faster through the ran less will hit me cause i'm spending less time in the rain - Running through the rain makes me hit more rain cause im running into it - fuck it umbrella

What to believe..what to believe...the physicists that just crunched a bunch of numbers, or the guys that actually went out in a downpour and found out firsthand? eh fuck it I never cared anyway. Just a little water it ain't gonna hurt anyone. I never have understood why society is so spazzy about getting wet in the rain.

that's a terrible idea you'd slip and fall all over yourself

[QUOTE=TestECull;36912528]I never have understood why society is so spazzy about getting wet in the rain.[/QUOTE] I believe the problem is getting sick, not getting wet.

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;36912596]I believe the problem is getting sick, not getting wet.[/QUOTE] Why would you get sick from being in the rain?

[QUOTE=Electrocuter;36912596]I believe the problem is getting sick, not getting wet.[/QUOTE] I bet its because rain is usually cold as fuck

[QUOTE=samuel2213;36912609]I bet its because rain is usually cold as fuck[/QUOTE] If you're out in it for extended periods of time then sure it's a bit dangerous But if it's just drizzle or if I'm heading home and gonna get changed then I don't give a care

[QUOTE=samuel2213;36912609]I bet its because rain is usually cold as fuck[/QUOTE] Being cold doesn't get you a cold, getting infected by a virus gets you a cold. The name "cold" comes from the fact that it's usually accompanied by a fever which makes you feel cold all the time. Before anyone gets antsy that being cold lowers your immune defense, the effects are negligible unless you're properly hypothermic or you're malnourished or something and already have a shit immune. Edit: Actually I was wrong about the name, still: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_virus#Weather[/url]

[QUOTE=Furioso;36912561]that's a terrible idea you'd slip and fall all over yourself[/QUOTE] if youre a pansy

never would have guessed

The Mythbusters tested this out. 10+ years before that I remember hearing this on the radio during a morning show before school. I remember thinking what a huge waste of time it was, and here they are still doing it

[QUOTE=chipset;36912640]Being cold doesn't get you a cold, getting infected by a virus gets you a cold. The name "cold" comes from the fact that it's usually accompanied by a fever which makes you feel cold all the time. Before anyone gets antsy that being cold lowers your immune defense, the effects are negligible unless you're properly hypothermic or you're malnourished or something and already have a shit immune. Edit: Actually I was wrong about the name, still: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_virus#Weather[/url][/QUOTE] I don't mean it like that, I mean it is just unpleasant being cold and wet because of the rain. I did not mean it causes a cold.

Not sure about you guys but its humid all year around here and sprinting in the rain would totally get me wetter due to sweat.

[QUOTE=abcpea2;36912650]if youre a pansy[/QUOTE] grr look at me im a rebel

So basically fat people run, thin people walk?

[QUOTE=Furioso;36912561]that's a terrible idea you'd slip and fall all over yourself[/QUOTE] obviously not pro enough I've climbed 4 foot fences in the rain without slipping don't ask why.

I tried to do some equations on this with math. Where p is equal to plane and the plane is 90 degrees from where the rain is coming from so so I made p=1 to 90 degrees. Average rainfall is 2.5mm per hour. Average rainfall per second is 6.94433 femtometres. If a distance was 100 metres and walking is 0.8941 m/s(2 mph) and sprinting is 3.576 m/s(8 mph) then a walking person would collect 776.681 fm while a running person at a extreme factor of doubling (my only variable that I can't find with actual measurements so I made it extreme) the rainfall collection due collision with rain would be 308.384 fm. Sprinting would keep you dryer than walking, but of course you would be out of breath. There's probably some problems in my math since I only teach myself math to keep from forgetting it. Any additions and corrections will help in the name of physics. I don't know any variables that I could forgotten also.

[QUOTE=choco cookie;36913843]I tried to do some equations on this with math. Where p is equal to plane and the plane is 90 degrees from where the rain is coming from so so I made p=1 to 90 degrees. Average rainfall is 2.5mm per hour. Average rainfall per second is 6.94433 femtometres. If a distance was 100 metres and walking is 0.8941 m/s(2 mph) and sprinting is 3.576 m/s(8 mph) then a walking person would collect 776.681 fm while a running person at a extreme factor of doubling (my only variable that I can't find with actual measurements so I made it extreme) the rainfall collection due collision with rain would be 308.384 fm. Sprinting would keep you dryer than walking, but of course you would be out of breath. There's probably some problems in my math since I only teach myself math to keep from forgetting it. Any additions and corrections will help in the name of physics. I don't know any variables that I could forgotten also.[/QUOTE] nurd

So... in both cases, you get wet.

then you slip and fall and cry in a wet muddy puddle

Either way you end up wet. Any difference will be so small that it wouldn't be noticable to a narmal person. Either way just bringing an umberella or a jacket would be more effective. Why is this even a thing?

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;36914194]Either way you end up wet. Any difference will be so small that it wouldn't be noticable to a narmal person. Either way just bringing an umberella or a jacket would be more effective. Why is this even a thing?[/QUOTE] Because we have nothing better to do?

Mythbusters tested it twice. First Adam and Jamie did it in a giant warehouse with artificially created rain, from a giant plumbing system above. They concluded that running was better than walking in rain. Then Tory, Grant, and Kari tested it again, and they found that walking was better than running. They did it in actual rain, walked out of M7 (or was it M5?) walked a course side by side, then walked back in. Adam and Jamie had listened to some other researchers who tested it and those researchers found the same as Kari, Grant, and Tori.

[QUOTE=chipset;36912640]Being cold doesn't get you a cold, getting infected by a virus gets you a cold. The name "cold" comes from the fact that it's usually accompanied by a fever which makes you feel cold all the time. Before anyone gets antsy that being cold lowers your immune defense, the effects are negligible unless you're properly hypothermic or you're malnourished or something and already have a shit immune. Edit: Actually I was wrong about the name, still: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_virus#Weather[/url][/QUOTE] Pneumonia

I have an groundbreaking idea. What if what's better depends on the circumstances like wind, density of rain, size of droplets, and such, and there's no simple "A or B" answer?