Saturday, June 03, 2006

things to ponder on the way to work

If I stand still in the rain, I get hit by all of the raindrops that fall in a certain spot.

If I ride my bicycle in the rain, I move through space and thus get hit by only a few raindrops in each spot.

If I ride slowly, I get hit by more raindrops in each spot; if I ride quickly, I cover more ground in the same amount of time and get hit by raindrops from more different spots.

Is there an optimum speed at which I can ride so as to get the least wet in a given amount of time? Is it drier to stand still for, say, a minute? Or to ride slowly for that same minute? Or to ride quickly?

This is, of course, discounting the effects of the water that's already on the ground and that goes shooting up my skirt as I ride through it.

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