Walking Akela the Wonder Dog in the rain today, I got to wondering...

The route is a fixed distance, about a mile. Would I collect more raindrops or fewer raindrops by walking faster?

Walking faster means I gather more raindrops/minute due to the horizontal component of motion, but I spend less time in the rain.

What effect would the ratio of frontal area vs. plan area (i.e., area viewed from directly above) have on the problem? How would the amount of raindrops received vary if I were on hands and knees instead of standing upright but moving at the same speed?

How does the severity of the rainfall enter in when viewed as a function of forward velocity? Perhaps the optimum velocity differs depending on how fast the rain is falling?

Are there too many inter-related variables for there even to be a definitive solution?

tanstaafl.