Walk or run in the rain?

James Armstrong

          Reflection 12 ask that we read the article “Walk or run in the Rain” and relate the information to class. The theory is interesting, and asks the question if one gets wetter by walking or running during a rain event. In fact the question is so popular that the Mythbusters team took on the scientific analysis. The first task in any calculus based problem is finding the independent variables that need to be put together to find the solution. The variables include the velocity of rain, distance needed to travel, and speed in which one runs. The calculations made the discovery that whether running or walking the subject still gets wet, running is more likely to get the front of the person wet and walking gets the top of the person wet.

          Calculations can be used to determine a number of questions like this. For instance you own a 16’ aluminum boat that weighs approximately 180lbs that we will define as B. The boat takes roughly 3min to travel 600ft B₃=600ft. Using this as a basis we can use 3min as a base calculation of B_t using this basis estimation of distance and time we can calculate how long it would take for the boat to travel a distance of 2400ft.

B_t= 600/2400=4 knowing that it takes 3min to travel 600ft we multiply 3*4=12min.

We can add other variables into this equation to better estimate the approximate time. If wind is a factor then this can inhibit time greatly. If wind speed is a slowing factor of 1min per 1mph the equation  can be estimated by taking the d/t and subtracting the windspeed from the answer.

D/t+Wmph so if the trip takes 12min and the wind speed is 4mph then the trip will take approximately 16min.