Moving along the ground in a steady downpour from A to B, do I get wetter if I move faster or slower ?

Question

For simplicity, assume that I'm standing erect and still, like a statue, on a motorized skateboard that can vary its speed as I wish. Mind that if I move faster to cut the time, the rain slants at me more and I present a larger surface for wetting..

Answer 1

Ideally assuming you to be near to planar surface,

The volume of water drenching your body = Surface area of your body X Relative velocity of rain X Time taken to cross rain

May be this could resolve it a little further.

Answer 2

well i was going to say slower but you talk about the slant of the rain hitting a larger surface....but then again the slower you move the longer you are in the rain which will pour off your head onto the rest of you body.Plus when you're moving faster allowing a larger surface that's not true...because if you've ever noticed when you run through the rain rather than walk usually only your front side is wet!!! I really don't know...interesting. It's the same damnit...lol

Answer 3

Strictly from personal experience, in a downpour it doesn't make much difference in how wet I get regardless of the speed I move, but if I move faster I minimize the time I'm literally being rained on. However, in a light sprinkle, the faster I move the dryer I stay. Maybe the key here is the volume of water being dumped on you rather than how fast you move through it.

Answer 4

I'm going to say you get wetter by moving slower.

Say you can move infinitely fast (ie the Matrix) and all the water droplets between A and B are suspended in midair. As you move from A to B, you will hit/absorb every one of them in the cross-sectional space that is your body. This is a finite number.

Now say, you are moving infinitely slowly meaning it takes you forever (literally) to get from A to B. This means as long as it keeps raining you will keep getting hit with water on your head. This will be an infinite number.

Of course, this avoids the absorbtion factor. Your head can absorb a lot less water than your entire body, so for practical purposes it is probably better to just walk.

Answer 5

it is true .the faster you go the wetter you get .if you stand still in a place only particular amount of rain drops will fall on you .but if you are moving , the rain drops in the present position and successive positions will fall on you.off course you miss rain drops in the previous position but as the rain drops are equal all around you it does not make any change.

Answer 6

if u move fast the rain will fall on u diagonally(slanting) and thus as u say it will present a larger surface area for wetting. but if u walk slowly ur head will get more wet.
thus either ways u will get very wet

it is relative velocity

Answer 7

You want a shocker? The boys from the television show MythBusters (great show - check it out) take all sorts of myths and urban legends and test them scientifically. They did this one. The runner got wetter than the walker. The test, unfortunately, was only the length of their warehouse, but it's true. However, I'd imagine that for long distances or heavy heavy rains, or both, it probably just doesn't matter.

Answer 8

there are 2 events that are making you wet:

rain drops that you move into
rain drops that fall on you

the amount of rain drops that you move into is constant. the amount of rain drops that fall on you depends on how long it takes you to complete the trip from A to B.

ergo

the faster you move, the less wet you get

this solution does not deal with relativistic effects. if you move at the speed of light, you will get there in no time (literally) and not get wet from any rain falling onto you.

Answer 9

It will also depend on the wind - rain does not often fall directly downward, but is affected by the wind. If you were to move with the wind, at roughly the same speed, you would likely stay driest.

Answer 10

The faster you move the wetter you get, because when you walk faster, the rain doesn't get to you but you get to the rain , .......meaning you get drenched more when you move faster.