# How Fast Do Sperm Travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397 "2002-07-23T15:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/1 "2002-07-23T15:39:27Z")
I am not going to get into the gensis of this question (it, like so many of life’s great questions, involves tequilla), but my girlfriend and I were trying to figure out how fast sperm cells travel. What is the commuting time from their nice suburban homes in epididymus (sp?) to their final destination (for simplicity we’ll say that their final destination is simply the outside world and that part of the journey is through a standard, Kinsey-averaged 6" penis). As a follow up, what does this speed correlate to with respect to my daily commute? If a sperm was the same size as a 6’ man, how fast would he be going? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/2 "2002-07-23T16:32:06Z")
Under their own flaggelating power or pushed by ejaculatory fluid upon climax? Be specific. Based on biology movies where sperms are whipping around I estimate if a sperm was was a man it’d be a pretty good running speed. If were talking about ejaculation speeds relative to man=sperm size you’re going to have to be talking Saturn V rocket launch speeds . ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/3 "2002-07-23T16:40:31Z")
I’m referring to the speed they’re travelling at ejaculation. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/4 "2002-07-23T16:45:04Z")
[Speed of a sperm cell](http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2000/EugeneKogan.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/5 "2002-07-23T18:18:55Z")
Maybe im dense but that link went in one eye and out the other. Are they saying they travel at the equivalent of 500 mph relative to their size? ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/6 "2002-07-23T20:35:39Z")
One of my favorite musical quotes of all time, conveniently lifted from the link above: " If a sperm were the size of a whale, however, it would be traveling at fifteen thousand miles per hour or Mach 20. Now imagine, if you will, four hundred million blind and desperate sperm whales departing from the Pacific Coast of North America,swimming at fifteen thousand miles per hour, and arriving in Japanese coastal waters in just under forty five minutes. How would they be received?" -Laurie Anderson ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/7 "2002-07-23T21:50:14Z")
I’ll take a shot. Say the vas deferens plus the urethra is a foot long - give or take a few inches. I think that it may take a second or so to be squeezed from the epydidymis to the urethral opening. That’s about one foot per second or 5,280 feet per 5,280 seconds. Or about a mile per 1.4 hours - or about 7 tenths of a mile per hour. If it takes half that time to make the journey, then maybe the speed is closer to a mile and a half per hour. And if it takes more time than that, then obviously, the speed is even less. If the distance is greater than one foot, then maybe the speed is a little faster. It’s hard to gauge the speed of the ejaculate observationally, I think. But I think I have the order of magnitude about right. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/8 "2002-07-23T21:56:39Z")
Hehe sounds like I should go conduct experiments with Mrs. Eater 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/9 "2002-07-23T22:11:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*One of my favorite musical quotes of all time, conveniently lifted from the link above: > > " If a sperm were the size of a whale, however, it would be traveling at fifteen thousand miles per hour or Mach 20. > > Now imagine, if you will, four hundred million blind and desperate sperm whales departing from the Pacific Coast of North America,swimming at fifteen thousand miles per hour, and arriving in Japanese coastal waters in just under forty five minutes. How would they be received?" > -Laurie Anderson \*\* I have no idea; that’s way too fast for them to slaughter and eat them all. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-sperm-travel/120397/10 "2002-07-23T22:24:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Maybe im dense but that link went in one eye and out the other. Are they saying they travel at the equivalent of 500 mph relative to their size? \*\* No the article posts this as a claim by the musician and then debunks it. The article concludes with the estimate that adjusted for size the sperm would be going about walking speed if man sized. I still still think it’s more of a run than a walk at full flagellating speed.