10-second rule

[webofevil]

At a barbecue the other day someone dropped a burger. We were on a roof five storeys up and the decking the burger landed on had been rained on the day before. They retrieved it swiftly and wondered whether they should go ahead and eat it. An American guest said it would be fine as it had been gathered up in time so that it didn’t contravene the five-second rule. I said I thought it was a 10-second rule. He replied, “That’s because you guys had rationing during the war. Standards were more lax.”

Now pageantmalarkey has muddied the waters still further with her mention of a four-second rule. This is all too confusing and I demand that we settle this question once and for all.

NB - Surely we can all agree that food can remain on the floor for some length of time and still be safe to eat; the only question is how long. Ask any doctor. Well, maybe not any doctor.


[Poll #1238612]

Comments

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I think you have to vary things such that (say) coconuts get more leeway than (say) soup. I'm working on a complicatedly mathematical-looking formula involving shoving together a number of vague concepts (squishiness, filthiness, hunger, and so forth)that will implausibly yield an answer in seconds, regardless of the units of the constituent factors. I'll send a press release to all the news science sections while the people who actually have a clue are on summer holiday, so you'll be able to get the full rundown on the BBC website.

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

Be sure to illustrate how this can be measured using a Routemaster bus.