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Article: Shower curtain researcher earns dubious acclaim. (Punchline).(David Schmidt)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- IIE Solutions
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Did you hear the one about the engineer who spent his free time analyzing shower curtain movement and was rewarded with international acclaim?
David Schmidt is an assistant professor in the mechanical and industrial engineering department at the University of Massachusetts. He mapped the physical forces that act on a shower curtain to determine why it billows in on bathers, resulting in ick-inducing sticking to wet flesh (see "Shower Curtain Mystery Unveiled" October Punchline).
Schmidt's discovery of the culprit -- the combination of low pressure inside the curtain and high pressure outside -- earned him a dubious distinction. He was one of several ...