Would a person get wetter running or walking the exact same distance in the same amount of rain?

Answer 1

They would get wetter running. Mythbusters did an episode on it.

Answer 2

When idealized and analyzed, it seems running keeps you dryer than walking. The problem can be idealized as follows. Model the person as a rectangular prism, something like a shoebox standing on end. Depending on the person's forward speed Vp and the rain's fall speed Vr (which mostly depends on the raindrop size; larger=faster), the rain has an apparent angle of incidence theta with the prism (measured from the vertical) equal to arctan(Vp/Vr), assuming no wind. The total area of the rain stream hitting the prism, measured in the horizontal plane, is tan(theta), or Vp/Vr, times the forward surface area, plus the upper surface area. Now you can multiply that area by the rainfall rate (volume/(area*time)) and the time (distance/Vp) to get total intercepted rain volume. Looking at only the forward-surface contribution to total volume, Vp is in the numerator and denominator and thus cancels out; thus the forward surface intercepts the same amount of water at any speed > 0 for a given Vs. This explains why slower is wetter; the horizontal surface accumulates more water when travel time is longer.
For example, we idealize someone as a prism 2 m tall, 0.5 m wide and 0.25 m front-to-back, traveling 1 km in a heavy rainfall of 0.1 m depth/hour or 0.02778 liters/(m^2-sec). Exercising the formula for fall speed Vr= 5 and 15 m/s and travel speed Vp = 1, 2, 4 and 8 m/s, we find that the prism model intercepts the following rain volumes in liters:
Vp Vr Rain vol
01 05 9.027778
02 05 7.291667
04 05 6.423611
08 05 5.989583
01 15 5.324074
02 15 3.587963
04 15 2.719908
08 15 2.28588

Answer 3

one will get wetter while walking rather than running.

As the distance is the same, everything will depend only on time.
While walking you will take more time than running. Hence more rain droplets can hit you while walking.

Hence u will get more wetter than walking.

Answer 4

Wetter when walking. It depends on the distance: running 10 metres, not very wet, but 100 metres, soaked!

Answer 5

Mythbusters showed that by running you will run into drops that would have hit the ground before you got there, so you may as well walk. But, personally, I only think this applies to a light rain.

Answer 6

Running.

The air is filled with falling droplets. The same number will fall on your head whether you run, walk or stand still. But if you move you will run into some that would have missed you. The faster you run, the more you will hit.

Answer 7

May or may not, that depends upon other factors.One thing is sure he will get wetter untill his cloths get saturated by water

Answer 8

I agree with wetter by running.....I saw the show.

Answer 9

It is not a question of distance, but rather one of time. So running would limit the time you were out in the rain so limit your exposure to getting wet. ~ Rudy

Answer 10

wet 2 saturation

nothin beyond saturation !

if undersaturation, direction of wind comes into play ...

with wind - get wetter walking
against wind - both equal, walk and run