[at-l] raindrops keep falling on my head......

[ellen at clinic.net (Bob C.)]

>"...Exactly how big IS a raindrop anyway?"

I must confess that, probably unlike Jim, I've never measured a raindrop, nor
have I even "spent some years learning about things like magnetohydrodynamics
and boundary layers and aircraft stability and gas  dynamics.  And  more time as
a test engineer at the MCLFDC (Marine  Corps Landing Force Development Center)
testing little things like  Amphtracks, 6x6's, Ontos,  STOL aircraft landing
fields and air cushion  landing craft.  "Soil dynamics" in fact, has never been
"an integral part of" any job I've ever had.

However, I do know quite a lot about trails and the erosion that destroys them,
as I'm sure Jim does, though he seems to be trying hard to keep his knowledge
secret.

And I am quite familiar with the varieties of rain drops. They range from a
gentle mist to soil pummeling big drops. All I've ever said about the velocity
of rain drops is that in a vacuum they would accelerate at the rate of 32 feet
per second,  per second.

Yes. Jim. Falling objects in the real world have a terminal velocity. I don't
have a clue what that might be for rain drops, though I'm quite sure terminal
velocity varies as the natural conditions change.

What I do know is that rain hits the earth -- and trails -- fast enough to cause
soil erosion, a serious problem world wide. And I know that of the many ways
found to reduce soil erosion, among the easiest to apply is to minimize the
disturbance of natural soil and the vegetation that is growing on it.

Weary