why does water move in a clockwise direction when poured in sink drainage???

Question

sereios answers only...

Answer 1

I guess because I live in Northern Hemisphere it is supposed to go clockwise, which I tested out, and it does. However when I flush my toilet, it goes counter clockwise. I actually just called a friend who also said his toilet fluched counter clockwise. But that's just toilets, and probably the way they are designed has something to do with it. But i think your on to something with the sink drains, it is very intriguing.

Answer 2

Well the coriolis force is the answer that should dominate the majority of this question, but it is not really the answer. I just got done taking a classical mechanics course which overruled this answer. Yes, the coriolis force is responsible for the rotational direction of hurricanes, tornadoes, and other rotating systems, however the reason for the drainage issue is resolved from the design of the sink or the direction of the initial pouring.

If you were to set up an experiment in a perfectly symmetric sink with a carefully planned pouring procedure, you WOULD see the water rotate in opposite directions depending on the hemisphere that you are in at the time (northern or southern).

Cool note: There are places near the equator where there are no tropical storms because the coriolis force does not send the weather patterns rotating. These used to be problem areas for sailors who used to get stuck there because of the lack of wind!

Answer 3

There is a popular misconception out there that the Coriolis effect is responsible for the clockwise spin of water down a drain or sink. The Coriolis effect is too weak to produce these kinds of forces on a pool of water - the earth only rotates once a day, while a sink takes moments to drain. The effect of the earth's rotation is insignificant.

The forces that determine the direction of water flow in a vortex are the shape of the sink, the geometry of the drain, and the direction of water input (the faucet for example). Minor influences in these variables will have much greater effect than Coriolis.

The problem is that people have been taught by their teachers that Coriolis is responsible for sinks and toliet draining. While it is responsible for hurricane formation and currents in oceans, this is because of their massive size. In reality, your sink is the determining factor, not where it's located.

Answer 4

From wikipedia.
"A popular misconception is that the Coriolis effect determines the direction in which bathtubs or toilets drain, and whether water always drains in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the other direction in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect is a few orders of magnitude smaller than other random influences on drain direction, such as the geometry of the sink, toilet, or tub; whether it is flat or tilted; and the direction in which water was initially added to it. If one takes great care to create a flat circular pool of water with a small, smooth drain; to wait for eddies caused by filling it to die down; and to remove the drain from below (or otherwise remove it without introducing new eddies into the water) – then it is possible to observe the influence of the Coriolis effect in the direction of the resulting vortex.

This is less of a puzzle once one remembers that the earth revolves once per day but that a bathtub takes only minutes to drain. When the water is being drawn towards the plughole, the radius with which it is spinning around it decreases, so its rate of rotation increases from the low background level to a noticeable spin in order to conserve its angular momentum (the same effect as ballet dancers bringing their arms in to cause them to spin faster)."

Answer 5

It doesn't, it moves in whichever direction the pouring forces it to move. I hate to burst people's bubbles, but the Coreolis effect does not effect things that happen in the sink, it affects things on a global scale only - such as tornadoes/hurricanes/typhoons. The effect is caused by the cooler poles and the heated equator and the rotation of the earth. The effects in your sink are caused by the forces in the sink. Spin the water one way and it goes in one direction, spin it in the other and it goes in the other. The water in the sink spin is caused by the force of the water being poured. PERIOD!

Answer 6

The Coriolis force which is a result of the earths rotation. It's a weak force and can be over-ridden if you start the water spinning in the other direction first. It works backwards South of the equator, and on the equator it's even odds which way it'll spin.

Answer 7

It has to do with the gravitational pull of the northern hemisphere. If you were to go to a place in the southern hemisphere, the water would move in a COUNTER clockwise direction. Same with toilets - clockwise in northern, counter-clockwise in southern hemisphere.

Answer 8

It's called the Coriolis effect and it is due to the earth's rotation and the hemisphere.

Northern hemisphere CW rotation.
Southern hemisphere CCW rotation.

Answer 9

The coriolis effect, caused by the rotation of the earth

Answer 10

Go below the Equator and it turns the other way. It has to do with the magnetic poles and centrifugal force