Weather of Arabia - Whether you are walking or running fast in the rain, you will get wet, but there is an ideal speed to avoid the worst of it. Which will get you wet less, brisk jogging or walking?
Harvard mathematician David Bell provided the answer in 1976. His answer was that if it rains vertically, or there's wind blowing in your face, you should run — and the faster you run, the less wet you'll get over the same distance. The wind was blowing from behind, you should still run, but at the same speed as the wind, which is the ideal speed that will get you wet the least.
But in practice, how fast you move in the rain doesn't make much difference, even if you run at a record pace, the mathematician's formula shows you'll get only 10% less wet, which means it's hardly worth the trouble to run.
Physicist Doug Kraiken, also gave us a simple explanation that answers the question, whether you choose to walk or run, there are a limited number of raindrops falling within the distance between you and your destination. If you run, it will rain at a faster rate and you will collect more water per second, but if you walk, it will rain slowly and thus absorb less percentage per second, but if you run, you will cover the distance more quickly, which means that the number of seconds in which you are exposed to rain. Even though you absorb fewer drops when you walk, you increase the number of seconds you are exposed to rain and therefore get wet. Thus, we conclude that running is better than walking.
So, the amount of wetness you get depends only on the time you spend in the rain, if you run to your destination you will reduce the time you spend in the rain and thus reduce your wetness.
Arabia Weather App
Download the app to receive weather notifications and more..