Remember that video of those guys who ran so fast, they literally skipped across an open pond?
The much-ballyhooed new sport was dubbed 'liquid mountaineering' in a clip that seemed to be making the rounds everywhere.
Just strap on these shoes. And run like hell. Across. Water.
Viewed nearly 14 million times since it was uploaded in April 2010, the clip stirred up many a dream of being able to pull a high-speed Jesus on your next trip to the cottage.
Only to have them doused by reality.
Hugo Van Woerden and Philip Brink, the creative minds behind the original video, have since admitted to its fakery. The clip was actually part of an advertising campaign for Hi-Tec shoes — a viral marketing ploy highlighting the company's water-repellent footwear.
While the company may have cashed in on the the dream of a fresh, albeit bogus, sport, they didn't entirely step on that dream.
Years later, an important question lingers.
Can't we just run on water? Please?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: No.
The scientific answer, according to the luminaries at the Science Channel, is possibly — if you were running really, really fast.
As in, the fastest man on Earth fast.. times three.
Usain Bolt, in case you were wondering, can reach a clip of about 10.4 meters per second. According to the Science Channel's math, one would have to be motoring at closer to 30 metres per second to be a skipping stone of a human being.
"These guys claimed they could do it because their running speed is so fast, it's just like skipping a stone across water," astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi tells the Science Channel.
"It's definitely true that if a human foot or human hand was to slap water really hard, you would actually feel the reactionary force."
Here's the rub. That upward-pushing force has to be equal or more than the weight pushing down on the water.
Casey Chan at the news blog Sploid sums it up thusly:
"Water can theoretically support the weight of a human only if they have beyond enormous feet or if they can run stupid fast."
Our advice to all the young water beetles?
Wait until winter.
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