Can people run on water?

Question

There have been a few videos around since as far back as 2010 that people can run on water. This is less commonly called Liquid Mountaineering. This is apparently a new sport, but I have only ever seen videos of people doing this, e.g Walk on water (Liquid Mountaineering).

The Mythbusters tried this and they came to the conclusion that this myth was "busted", but as we should all know, we should not take what these guys do as a bible. The myth here: Episode 162: Running on Water.

There seems to be a lot of debate over this in comments of the running on water videos, as you can hide a platform under the water which will make you look like you are running on water, for example. This means it could be a simple illusion of running on water rather than actually running on water.

Definition of "Running on water": Running on water is the art of running un-supported on water, to remain on top of the water for a given series of steps on the water.

There is an easy way to walk on water: freeze the water. This happens all the time in winter. ;-) — matt_black, Feb 19 '14 at 15:34
It depends how big your shoes are. (I assume we're not talking giant inflatable shoes.) — Stuart F, Nov 03 '22 at 11:33

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '14 at 10:39

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No, not in the sense that you mean. It isn't only Mythbusters that have debunked this one. Even if your feet only make contact for a brief moment, the weight of a human, plus the weight distribution of a person makes balancing on a dynamic very difficult.

Further explanation here in Popular Mechanics.

Walking on water is a popular magic trick, but it's nothing more than a cleverly established illusion.

Walking, or something akin to walking, on water is possible if it is combined with something like cornflour (Cornstarch for the Americans) to create a non-newtonian fluid, but this is not not exactly water, and not exactly running!

answered Feb 18 '14 at 10:39

Owen C. Jones

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or you can create shoes that are so big that your weight is distributed enough to not break surface tension. That's of course called a boat :) – jwenting Feb 18 '14 at 12:24
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Yup, and it would hardly be running! – Owen C. Jones Feb 18 '14 at 14:43
The explanation on [Popular Mechanics](http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/fact-vs-fiction/water-runner-physics-debunked) explains, that if we want to use the hydrodynamic force to 'slide' on the surface, an average human would need to run at about 100km/h. But to the video: it is a part of the marketing strategy of HiTec (see [hi-tec official page](http://www.hi-tec.com/uk/liquid-mountaineering.html)) and there even is a video of "making liquid mountaineering" showing that they actually used an underwater construction, see [this link](http://www.hoax-slayer) – user992990 Feb 18 '14 at 14:50

score 8 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 25 '22 at 14:49

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No, that video was made as a publicity stunt by a shoe manufacturer to promote their water-proof shoes.

Making Of Hi Tec Liquid Mountaineering is a video they later uploaded revealing how they made the video, using hidden platforms below the water.

You can, however, run on water if you add some cornflour into the water, resulting in a non-Newtonian fluid. There are several videos of this around on the internet. (EG These People Are Walking On Water)

edited Oct 25 '22 at 14:49

Laurel

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answered Feb 18 '14 at 14:48

Nick

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Here's [another video](http://youtu.be/D-wxnID2q4A) showing people walking, running, and even biking across a pool filled with cornstarch and water. The first few seconds of the video shows a girl attempting to run across plain water (spoiler: she sank) – Johnny Feb 18 '14 at 18:57

Can people run on water?

2 Answers2