Today, we're going to travel out to the desert and see firsthand a modern mystery, one

that coincided with the 20th century's Rise of the Automobile.

Washboarding on dirt roads is not only an elusive phenomenon to try to explain, it's equally

elusive in evading all attempts to find a way to solve it or drive conveniently over

it.

Moreover, the history of our knowledge of washboarding is thick with misinformation.

That's coming up right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid, I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

On Washboarded Roads Today we have a really neat general science puzzle

for you.

The problem is that of washboarded dirt roads, unpaved roads that over time develop a rough,

rippled surface that make them incredibly uncomfortable to drive over, to say nothing

of the extra beating they give to a vehicle's suspension.

We would love to solve this, as dirt roads are the only practically inexpensive way to

reach countless remote destinations worldwide, and the washboarding that inevitably develops

can make such trips intolerable.

In order to solve this, we have to first understand why and how it happens, and that's why this

little conundrum became a Skeptoid episode.

The problem is so bad in places that local governments have been willing to spend money

to research it, resulting in decades of published papers filled with physics equations.

Exactly what do we know so far?

Put on your seatbelt, sit on an extra cushion, and let's go find out.

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