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My work has a sign in the bathrooms requesting that you stand closer to the urinals to avoid splashing onto the floor.

Is this actually a workable fact? My query is that if you stand closer, wouldn't there be more force impacting the back of the urinal and it'd splash back further?

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  • 3
    This should be moved to physics.
    – denten
    Feb 28, 2013 at 3:17
  • There are a number of other factors to consider, e.g. what is the angle of the jet of urine? is the trajectory of the jet taking it straight down the drain? Is the subject standing so far away that some falls on the floor in-between, etc, etc.
    – Robert
    Mar 6, 2013 at 14:11
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    I think the working assumption here is that if you stand closer, any splash effect would land on you, not the floor. Note they didnt say "to avoid splashing at all", but rather "to avoid splashing on the floor".
    – AviD
    Mar 12, 2013 at 9:11
  • For discarding a joke, take a look to check if they posted the signs in the women's bathrooms too
    – Dr. belisarius
    Mar 24, 2013 at 6:46

1 Answer 1

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In the context of the scenario you describe, yes. "Splashing onto the floor" is reduced because:

  • Splash-back lands on you instead, and is absorbed
  • As with many things, your aim "becomes more accurate with decreasing distance to the target"
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