Article: Engineer finds a twist in shower-curtain debate

Engineer finds a twist in shower-curtain debate

By ANTHONY RAMIREZ

New York Times

Sunday, July 29, 2001

Like millions of people, David Schmidt takes a shower every morning. For the last few years, between first spritz and final drain, a question has vexed him: Why does the shower curtain suck in?

Today, thanks to $28,000 worth of high-powered computer software, a PhD in engineering and too much free time, Schmidt, 31, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Massachusetts, believes he has an answer. It has to do with why airplanes fly, hurricanes twist and apples fall.

True, the mystery of the sucking shower curtain does not rank high on the ladder of mankind's challenges, and ...

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