You’ve all heard of the 5-Second Rule. You know, the rule that says if you drop a piece of food on the floor, you have 5 seconds to pick it up.  Right?

But there are several variables:

Floor Surfaces – Carpeting depends on when it was last vacuumed.  Hardwood floors and/or laminated flooring again depends on how clean it is, but can be a bit more forgiving than carpeting.

Location – if it’s your personal dwelling then perhaps you can be a bit more forgiving.  BUT – in a public place or even if at a persons dwelling that you know – it’s a firm no!!!

               *Side Note 1 – if you’re at home and eating say, Peanut M&Ms, then the 5 Second Rule can be extended much longer.

Food Item – This is the most important variable.  See, as above in Side Note 1 – something with an outer surface that protects it from a lot of contaminants can be prime for the 5-Second Rule.  But let’s say you’re eating shrimp and you drop it on the floor – then it’s a firm no – it’s gonna pick up all kinds of stuff. 

               *Side Note 2 – if the shrimp is still in the shell, then that’s a judgement call – the shell protects the edible food. A hard shell crab hits the floor. Then it’s perfectly acceptable to pick it up. You’re going to throw the shell away anyway.

That’s the basics of the 5-Second Rule.

BUT – have you ever heard of the 21-Second Rule?

No?

*Side Note 3 – You see, THAT’S why you visit me here.  Sure, I might entertain, and I might give you thoughtful insights, but perhaps the main reason some might come here is to gather little fragments of invaluable info and obscure facts.

Where was I?

Oh yeah – the 21-Second Rule

The Noble Prize for physics in 2015 was awarded to someone that was studying pee in zoo animals.  The team modeled peeing in different sized animals and they termed it the “Law of Urination”.

The “law” itself is pretty simple: “Animals that are over 6.6 pounds (3 Kilograms), empty their bladders over about 21 seconds.  Smaller animals, rats for example, might urinate in a fraction of a second.  Urination duration has to do with not only bladder pressure, but also gravity.  It was determined that in smaller animals, pee time is constrained by the surface tension of urine..

Puzzled?

It’s quite simple.

Larger animals have longer urethras, so greater gravitational force driving the flow.  Long urethras increase the flow rate in larger animals, which enables them to empty their bladders over approximately the same duration.

They surmised that the urethra is similar to another principle – Pascal’s Barrel, which acts as an energy input/output device.  The urethra is a water tight “pipe” that directs urine downward.  The urethra increases the gravitational force acting on the urine that expels it from the body.

By studying the different sizes of animals peeing, they came up with this 21-Second Rule.

               *Side Note 4 a few mammals are trained to “hold” their pee, thus, the length might be longer than 21 seconds.  Like when a human holds their pee, or a dog holds their pee, it might go longer than 21 seconds.  This could, over time, enlarge or stretch the bladder which could lead to health problems later on.

By utilizing the 21-Second Rule, doctors have been able to determine health problems. 

For example, if you pee too often, or much less than 21-Seconds, you may end up with an over-active bladder.

It was also been medically determined that altered flow rates can be an indication of more serious health problems, as well as some minor health problems. 

               *Side Note 5 – I feel this turning into a medical journal type post – and I don’t want to get too technical.

               *Side Note 6 – How did this get a Nobel Prize in Physics?

But – it should be noted that as men get older, the flow rate might go down, while frequency might go up.  But that’s just us guys getting old.

So now you know about the 21-Second rule.

So when someone tells you to just “Go With the Flow”

Then just do it.

Go With the Flow.

• Seriously