Guest Thinkers — October 22, 2010

The Physics of Wet Dog Shake (Video)

Dogs and other furry mammals shake to dry themselves off. Experimenters at the Georgia Institute of Technology calculated how fast an animal has to oscillate to overcome surface tension and throw water off its hairs.

Lindsay Beyerstein

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The physics of wet mammal shake, explained. Dogs and other furry mammals shake to dry themselves off. Experimenters at the Georgia Institute of Technology calculated how fast an animal has to oscillate to overcome surface tension and throw water off its hairs.

It turns out, the smaller the animal, the faster it has to shake to dry off. A mouse shakes at 27hz, a grizzly bear at 4hz.

[Photo credit: Harry Harris, Creative Commons.]

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