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If there's a sufficiently durable, clear plastic that can be made
to have the same index of refraction as water, then when rain
drops fall on it, you'll still be able to see clearly.... Or make a
novelty cup out of this material and you'll think twice before
saying it's half-full (or half-empty).
Ball Rain
http://www.halfbake...om/idea/Ball_20Rain The solution to all our problems. [pottedstu, Feb 22 2002]
[link]
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This doesn't account for the shape of the raindrop though. Even if you exactly matched the index of refraction (a hard thing to do given varying impurities in rain), you'd still be faced with the optical disparity the shape of the raindrop would yield, no? (okay, optics ain't my bag but I think I'm right). |
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Perhaps when Rods Tiger is rewriting the laws of nature from scratch (see Ball Rain), he could give water the same index of refraction as air, and then we wouldn't have this problem. |
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Drive underwater. Problem solved. |
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How come nobody ever calls good weather "clement weather"? |
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so when it's not raining it will be like looking through a water-covered windshield? |
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It's never just rain on your windshield, always oil and crud from the roadway. It's coming down in buckets today, could have used those side window wipers. |
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Great point, mihali. I wish I'd written it; says it all. |
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TeaTotal: People do. I've heard it before... |
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Serious idea: how about a hood/windshield assembly which can be placed in front of the main windshield but has a VERTICAL glass? Would severely increase drag and detract from fuel economy if used all the time or at full highway speeds; for occasional use driving in really bad rain, however, these drawbacks shouldn't be too much of a problem. |
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. . . and it would look so fetching, too. |
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Old VW Beetles had vertical, flat windshields. It wouldn't help. |
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Something taking some of the extra fan air from the radiator and blowing it out such that it made the drops fly over the front of the car could be cool, tho... |
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How about a window coated with water? Hold the water in place with some sort of powerful adhesive field (static electricity?) and then the rain would block your view just as much as if you were looking out from underwater in a swimming pool. |
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