does bath water go down the drain without spinning at the equator?

Question

since the coreolis effect causes draining water to spin one way in the northern hemisphere and the other way in the southern hemisphere, what does it do at the equator? Is anyone taking a bath at the equator right now?

Answer 1

its actually a common misonception that water spins only counter clockwise in the drain south of the equator and only clockwise north of it. This is based on the myth that coreolis forces are strong enough to cause the direction of spin to change. In actuality, for coriolis forces to have that strong of an effect, the water would have to be shooting down the drain at WAY more than 200 mph.

the reality is that water goes down a drain based on the shape of the sink and the direction the water enters the drain, so at the equator or in the north or south, it still doesn't make a difference.

here's a website link to an EDU page where they discuss the myth. http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/bad/badco...

Answer 2

The Coriolis effect does not cause draining water to spin one way in the northern hemisphere and the other way in the southern hemisphere because bath tubs are far too small to show a Coriolis effect.

However the Coriolis effect does cause hurricanes to rotate one way in the northern hemisphere and the other way in the southern hemisphere because those storms are hundreds of miles across. And the lack of a Coriolis force at the equator means you never see hurricanes at the equator.

Answer 3

The draining water will always form a vortex, the direction is heavily influenced by the mechanical system (e.g., shape of the basin, direction of water injection from inlets, direction the bather "paddles," etc.) Under ideal conditions, the swirl will statistically favor the predicted directions for the Northern or Southern hemisphere.

At the equator, the direction is random if the mechanical factors are made negligible.

Aloha

Answer 4

The norther hemisphere and southern don't actually have much affect on the spinning of a drain. The shape of the sink/tub or whatever has more to do with it.

Answer 5

It is random. In fact it is random north or south of the equator too. With small volumes of water, the effect is so small other factors dominate.
It only works with large systems such as weather systems

Answer 6

that is the realm of chaos theory and quantum mechanics..

since the equator is more or less a very vague line, on that border you could never know exactly on what side you're on and if you happen to be EXACTLY on the spot, chaos comes into place (as many things in chaos theory occur on borders)