I've tried walking and running in the rain and i always seem to get the same amount of rain on me. Am I correct in thinking it makes no difference?

This was covered on two episodes of Mythbusters. As I recall, they got the wrong answer the first time around, they used artificial rain (sprinklers) which did not adequately duplicate real rain. So they had to do it all over again on a second episode.

You might check the discovery channel website.

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"I'm as accurate as any psychic. And I'm a cartoon!" -- Squidward

"Arrrgh, the laws of physics be a harsh mistress!" -- Bender

Oh, man, I remember this going on with Ann Landers. My own interpretation went something like this. Limits:

1) If you just stand still, a whole lot of rain will fall on you, the longer you stand, the wetter.

2) If you run infinitely fast, you will move through the area of rain as though the drops are just suspended there. Therefore, there is a minimum volume your body must sweep out to get from A to B, hence a minimum wetness. In between there would seem to be varying degrees of wetness.

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Thanks for the links guys. Who would of thought this question warranted so much controversy

Back in high school, I sometimes got to use the family car. On one of those occassions, I offered a ride home to a friend. When we got to the exit door to the parking lot, it was raining... hard.

I ran very fast to the car, opened it, and jumped in. I looked back, and my friend was very casually walking to the car, in that pouring rain. When he got in, I asked him why he walked; surely he got wetter than I?

He replied that he figured if he walked, he'd get wet from the outside in. If he ran, he'd also get wet from the inside out.

Based on this scientific study, I say the only difference is the source of the wet, not the degree.

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Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by ignorance or stupidity.
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I believe the answer depends on whether you more closely approximate a flat plate or a sphere.
If you're a flat plate (surface perpendicular to the direction of travel), then the increase in your raindrop cross-section as your velocity increases exactly compensates for your reduced path-length through the raindrop rest frame, and so your velocity makes no difference.
If you are a sphere, then you get no change in raindrop cross-section with your velocity, so it pays to reduce your path-length in the raindrop rest frame: you therefore get less wet if you move quickly.
So rotund people should hurry; slim people may do what they wish.

Grant Hutchison

Cecil Adams chimes in.

Fred

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"For shame, gentlemen, pack your evidence a little better against another time."
-- John Dryden, "The Vindication of The Duke of Guise" 1684

I don't know if you get wetter walking or running, but if you run in the rain, you're probably more likely to slip and fall, then you'll be soaked and injured.

If I sing and dance in the rain, I will get drenched, and get funny stares, but I will enjoy myself more.

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And you might star in a movie.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

It depends on a lot of things. The angle of the rain (affected by the wind) makes a difference. Also "wet" in human terms may be more complicated than quantity of water taken up, you may also be concerned about where on you it lands.

For example, if I wear a broad-brimmed hat (as I usually do) and walk slowly in rain that is falling close to vertically, I can confine the wetness mainly to the hat.

On the other hand, if you step out of a tavern after Last Call into the middle of a heavy rain, you will feel nothing whatsoever.

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The Devil offered me power. I told him I preferred aperture.

Well I have done it twice so far, complete with funny stares, no hollywood deals yet.
(and yes I know what movie thou art refering to )

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