X and the City: Modeling Aspects of Urban Life (91 page)

and probability distribution,
275

puddles: rain sparks in,
216

wave patterns on,
256
–57

rain: and circles,
217

precipitation rate,
52

and reflections,
218
–19

running or walking in,
51
–56

and sparks,
216

speed of,
259

rainbows,
193
,
203
–4,
223
–34

details of formation,
297
–302

in lighthouse beams,
234
–39

in searchlight beams,
240
–42

tertiary and quaternary,
297

random walk,
291
–93

rats,
142

reaction time,
80
–83,
108
,
113
–14,
116
,
117
–20

refractive index,
204
–5,
212
–14,
299

Reynolds number,
23
–24,
60
,
181
–82

ring roads.
See
beltways

risk: of dying while driving,
12

of dying while flying,
12

restaurants, number of,
16

roadbows,
203
–7

scaling,
38
,
167
,
169
–71

allometric,
168

geometrically similar,
168

isometric,
168

scattering,
192

Mie,
200

Rayleigh,
194
,
198
,
200
–202

searchlights,
234

shadows,
58
,
210

skyscrapers,
21
–23,
309

slugs,
44
–45

smog,
59
,
179
,
191

smokestacks,
185
–87

speed, terminal,
180

Stirling’s approximation,
274

Stokes’ law,
180

stopping distance,
80
–85

Strouhal number,
24

sunbathing,
48
–49

taxicab geometry,
65

taxicab metric,
26
,
270

taxis,
11
–12

tomatoes, consumption of,
39
–40

traffic: equation of continuity for,
99

flow of,
97

reaction time in,
117

shock waves in,
90
,
101

and traffic jams,
97
,
100
–101,
126
–27

at traffic signals,
100
–103

in tunnels,
103
–5

traffic signals: delays at,
101
–3

legal maneuvers for,
76
–80

transportation, public,
63
–71

average speed of,
65
–68

trips, average length of,
68
–71

tumors,
1
,
3

turkey, cooking,
37
–39

visibility, as affected by air pollution,
191

watermelons.
See
fruit

weather, in cities,
56
–58

wind: effects of on tall buildings,
21
–24,
52
,
58
–59

effects of on pollution,
182
–84,
186
–88

windows,
211
–16

worms,
44

Zipf’s law,
168