If you were to go 1 mile on foot in the rain, would you end up wetter if you ran or if you walked?

Answer 1

OK, just to show how sad I am, I'll pass on the following story...

Back when I was at school (about 25 years ago now. ) the whole school was changing lessons, so we were all running about trying to keep out of the rain.

As it happened, the Headmaster was there, and as I ran passed him, he called out to everyone in general - "There's no need to run! You get wetter if you run than you do if you walk."

Now, as someone with a brain with an aptitude for science and maths, the feeling of "wrongness" this statement gave me, stopped me in my tracks.

I thought about it for a moment and then told the Headmaster the following.

1) If you had infinite speed, you would "sweep up" the rain drops hanging in the air in front of you, but no rain would actually fall on you.

2) If you had zero speed, you would just be standing in the rain, so you would potentially get infinitely wet.

Thus, the equation for wetness vs. speed would look something like this...

Wetness = Rate of Rainfall + (Rate of Rainfall / Speed)

So, the faster you go, the dryer you'll be.

I seem to remember that, after explaining this to my Headmaster, I got a clip round the ear!

Probably well deserved! :)

Answer 2

This would depend on the density of the raindrops. Providing the rainfall is absolutely constant I'd think that you are getting marginally wetter if you walked but you would have to take into account tha fact that if you walk you will be affected by the rain coming from above and if you run, you will also be hit by the rain from the front but your back will be marginally drier instead. Over one mile, I reckon you'll get soaked in any case

Answer 3

You would be slightly wetter if you walked, but it's almost an insignificant difference.

If you run in the rain, you'll 'bump into' more rain than if you walked. If you walked then more would land on you because of the longer duration.

Answer 4

This experiment was done not too long ago on the TV programme Myth Busters. You actually get wetter if you run.

Answer 5

Brainiacs did a test on the telly - you actually get wetter running.

Answer 6

You'll end up wetter if you'll just walk. They did an experiment on this on "I didn't know that" on NatGeo.

Answer 7

Neither, you would end up just as wet either way. Very top secret and complicated experiments have been carried out to come to this conclusion.

Answer 8

Neither, you would end up just as wet either way. Very top secret and complicated experiments have been carried out to come to this conclusion.

Answer 9

you get wetter when u walk , we were talking about it in school.

Answer 10

wetter if you walk because you would be in it longer.