Keeping dry in the rain

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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Get moving if you don't want to be be soaked! An Italian physicist has revealed the secret to keeping dry in the rain.

Professor Franco Bocci claims that in most cases, the best strategy is is to run as fast as possible!

He analysed how rain can affect different body shapes, and claims that thin people are more likely to stay dry at lower speeds. 'If you're really thin, it's more probable that there will be an optimal speed. Otherwise, it's better to run fast.'

Franco Bocci, reporting in the European Journal of Physics, now believes that both wind direction and a person's stature figure have to be taken into account.

The Professor's latest advice isn't the only study on the subject.

In the 1970s, a number of papers came out in mathematics magazines debating the question, each more fully exploring the issues at hand.

In 1987, another Italian researcher asserted in the journal, that changing strategies did not make a substantial difference to how wet you get.

In the latest research, in 2011, a textile expert and a physicist used the suggested that an optimal speed existed, depending on the wind direction.

However, Professor Bocci believes that previous attempts to solve the problem simplified it too much.

'For the most part in the previous work, there was a simple answer, but I found that the problem is much more complicated,' Professor Bocci said.

As well as body shape, wind direction plays a big part in how wet you get - and if the wind is behind you, the optimal speed will be exactly the speed of the wind.

My advice - keep a large, sturdy brolly at hand and avoid risking life and limb by running in the downpour and slipping over!