The Physics of Walking on Water

Featuring a group of friends running on top of the water, "Liquid Mountaineering" was an international sensation on YouTube, getting more than 4.5 millions hits in just over a month. But this week it was confirmed a hoax by the shoe company prominently featured in the video. It’s a viral advertisement. But it looked so real! Popular Mechanics takes a look at the biomechanics of walking on water and why the Jesus Lizard can do it and we can’t.

Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, the current world record holder for the 100-meter sprint, ran 10.4 meters per second. But J.W. Glasheen and T.A. McMahon, two Harvard biologists who studied how the basilisk runs on water, found that in order to mimic the lizard, a human would need to run at almost 30 meters per second, “a velocity beyond human ability.” A man would also need “an average power output almost 15 times greater than the maximum sustained power output for humans.”

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by telegraph.