In the world of athletics, Sha’Carri Richardson is already known for her blistering speed on the track. But what if we told you that, under the right circumstances, she could take that sprint across the water’s surface?
While it sounds like science fiction, physics suggests that under the right conditions, world champion Sha’Carri Richardson could pull off this miraculous feat, just not on Earth.
The Inspiration: A Lizard That Runs on Water
As reported by Runners World, Nature has already figured out how to sprint on water. The basilisk lizard, nicknamed the “Jesus lizard”, can dash across ponds and streams to evade predators. Weighing around four ounces, it’s technically too heavy for water’s surface tension to hold, but it makes it work by slapping its feet down hard and fast, creating enough upward force to stay afloat for several seconds.
Back in the 1990s, Harvard researchers Tom McMahon and Jim Glasheen broke down this remarkable feat into three phases: slap, stroke, and recovery. Every step starts with a sharp slap on the water’s surface, generating an upward push. Then comes the stroke, a rapid, downward-and-backward motion creating a pocket of air that helps lift the foot. The final phase is recovery, where the foot lifts out, resets, and repeats.
Could a Human Pull This Off?
On Earth, unfortunately, not quite. McMahon and Glasheen ran the numbers and determined that for a 175-pound person to mimic the basilisk’s watery dash, they’d need to move at an eye-watering 98 feet per second, far beyond human capability.
But the researchers didn’t stop there. They wondered: what if gravity wasn’t such a buzzkill?
When Science Bends the Rules
A 2012 experiment by the University of Milan tried to answer that. Volunteers, strapped into a harness that reduced their effective body weight, strapped on fin-like footwear and attempted to sprint across a shallow pool. At about 10 percent of Earth’s gravity, people could manage it, for about eight seconds.
While it’s not practical on Earth, this hinted that water running isn’t an impossible act of fantasy, it’s a matter of physics. Lower the gravity, keep the water, and with enough speed, a human could dash across a liquid surface.
Enter Sha’Carri Richardson
This is where Richardson comes in. According to Physics World, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, offers a potential venue for water sprints. Titan’s lakes are similar to Earth’s in terms of liquid behavior, but its gravity is just 13.8 percent of ours.
At that gravity, calculations suggest Richardson would need to slap the water at about 28 feet per second, and given her world championship top speed clocks in at around 30 feet per second, she’s got the pace for it. That means, in theory, she could generate over 60 percent of the vertical force needed with each slap, making a water sprint on Titan an actual possibility.
A Future Olympic Sport… in Space?
Of course, this is all theoretical, we’re not holding the next Olympics on Titan just yet. But it does highlight the fascinating intersection between biology, physics, and athletic potential. While lizards sprint on water out of instinct, Sha’Carri Richardson could do it armed with physics and extraterrestrial gravity.
So, while we may not see track spikes hit Titan’s lakes in our lifetime, it’s fun to imagine a future where our fastest athletes test their limits on other worlds, and where Sha’Carri might be first in line to leave a wake behind her.
