Confirmed, Drier if you run in rain!
Baja_Traveler said:
2) Mythbusters did the running vs walking, but I cannot remember the outcome. (on edit - william remembered)
Kai Wikipedia to the rescue.
It was in session 1, episode 1:
(Wikipedia)
"You end up drier running in the rain than walking?"
Busted (was retested and results reversed later)
However it was revisited, reversing the original result and confirmed in Episode 38, season 3:
(Wikipedia)
"You end up drier running in the rain than walking. (From "Who Gets Wetter?", Season 1, episode 1)"
Confirmed
"When retrying the test in actual rain it was conclusively proven that the running test subject got less wet than the walking test subject. The use of artificial rain in the original test led to a false negative."
I think it is just a time thing mostly. Its all in fun with a dash of silly. So the results are not as important to me, but there was one of importance to us and aviation.
It was the "Chicken Gun" Myth that caught my attention. When testing windscreens for large aircraft (with thick windows) they use a large air cannon that shoots a chicken at the window to determine if it can withstand a bird strike. That part I know is true. The
urban legend occurred while testing windows for the FAA, when an engineer used a frozen chicken instead of a thawed one and destroyed the window. The Mythbusters wanted to see if a frozen or thawed chicken made a difference, regardless if it ever happened (which is doubtful). In some cases the Airforce opts to use frozen to simulate a "tense" bird about to get creamed. Now they use simulated birds to make the animal right folks happy.
(sesson 1, episode 9) The original effort used the front of a Piper Cherokee. They found both thawed and frozen birds went thru the Piper's thin windscreens (they used several) like a hot knife in butter. It even went across the adjacent field!!! So they assumed it made no difference. Of course the thin windshield was no match to a bird going ++100 mph, frozen or not. It was revised with a thick windshield and found it made a little difference
(sesson 2, episode 14).
Bottom line, the insight from the first effort was our windscreens are not a match for much. Anything at our speed is going thru the windscreen. We are in deep trouble if a bird strikes the windscreen, because it will be in our face. As fast as we go it could be real bad news. So wearing those cool shades may save your vision if you do cook a goose in flight.