Why does water settle differently between where the wipers go and the corners of the windshield when it rains?

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Of course, I mean when the cars wipers aren’t working. When the car is just sitting there, the water settling in the path of the wipers settle more smeared than in the sides and corners, where it settles as droplets. Why does this happen?

EDIT: Here’s two photos showing what I’m referring to.
http://imgur.com/gallery/JOwstfb

In: Physics

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The wipers were wiping in the path they cover. This means there is a small amount of wiper material rubbed off on the surface of the glass, as well as there being more of the various road grime or debris rubbed off on that area than would otherwise be accumulated.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because once the wipers run, all the water on their path is spread out to the surface of the windshield, so the wiped part of it is equally wet everywhere. Where the wipers dont reach, areas of windshield around the droplets are dry, and surface tension of water prevents the drops from spreading out.