The physics of how wet animals dry themselves

Scientists using slow-motion movie cameras have been trying to discover the physics behind the "wet dog shake."

Physicist Andrew Dickerson of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in the US and colleagues wanted to determine the optimal speed at which dogs and other hairy or furry animals should oscillate to shake water out of their fur most efficiently.

Dickerson’s team determined the conditions in which water drops are ejected by considering the balance of centripetal forces and surface tension on the drops. They likened the forces involved in the shaking or oscillating of wet, hirsute mammalian bodies to the spin cycle of a washing machine