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).
-- mhh5, Feb 22 2002

Ball Rain http://www.halfbake...om/idea/Ball_20Rain
The solution to all our problems. [pottedstu, Feb 22 2002]

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).
-- bristolz, Feb 22 2002


I think so too.
-- StarChaser, Feb 22 2002


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.
-- pottedstu, Feb 22 2002


Drive underwater. Problem solved.
-- angel, Feb 22 2002


How come nobody ever calls good weather "clement weather"?
-- TeaTotal, Feb 22 2002


so when it's not raining it will be like looking through a water-covered windshield?
-- mihali, Feb 22 2002


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.
-- rbl, Feb 22 2002


Great point, mihali. I wish I'd written it; says it all.
-- bristolz, Feb 22 2002


TeaTotal: People do. I've heard it before...
-- StarChaser, Feb 23 2002


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.
-- supercat, Feb 23 2002


. . . and it would look so fetching, too.
-- bristolz, Feb 23 2002


Old VW Beetles had vertical, flat windshields. It wouldn't help.

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...
-- StarChaser, Feb 24 2002


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.
-- ThotMouser, Apr 30 2002



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