a toilet the water goes counter clockwise down the drain,but on the other side of the Equater it goes just the opposite,clockwise.
2006-10-21 13:24:47 · 7 answers · asked by kman1830 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
If you are standing above the exact north pole and look down on the earth you will see it is spinning counter-clockwise. If you do the same over the south pole it would appear to be spinning clockwise. The pull of gravity down the vortex after you flush, and the spin of the earth on its axis cause the directional shift in your flush. Happy flushing!!!!!!!!!
2006-10-21 13:43:28 · answer #1 · answered by jzoop1 2 · 1⤊ 4⤋
What you are describing is the effects of the Coriolis force. Moving objects and liquids are deflected to one side or the other because of effects of the earth's rotation. It is greatest at the poles, where objects are deflected 15 degrees per hour, and is zero at the equator.
This is the force that caused the WWI-era German artillery cannon "Big Bertha" to fire huge bombs at the French that missed their targets by miles, always to the right. It is the same force that allows hurricanes and tornadoes to form, and why they always rotate counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere, and clockwise in the Southern. Hurricanes cannot form at or near the equator, and they cannot cross or even approach the equator, because they need the Coriolis force to keep them going.
You will not see the Coriolis effect in a toilet, however. At that scale, the effect is totally swamped by other factors, including the orientation of the outlets for water into the bowl. If you want to observe the Coriolis force right in front of you, you will have to fill a large sink with water, put a few corks in it, then leave it absolutely undisturbed for several days, until all the motion left over from filling the sink has dissipated. And find a way to pull the plug from beneath, so as not to disturb the water. (Some researchers performed this exact experiment.)
If you're not convinced, try flushing a toilet on the equator - the water will not drop straight down!
2006-10-21 13:40:23 · answer #2 · answered by Rochester 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
In order for your toilet to be self-cleansing, water is squirted into the bowl at an angle to get the water swirling. The side of the equator has nothing to do with the direction of spin.
2006-10-22 06:34:25 · answer #3 · answered by Stan the Rocker 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reasoning is that the Coriolis force, which determines the way weather systems rotate, will also affect your toilet. That reasoning is wrong; the Coriolis force is much too weak on that small a scale to have any effect. The swirl direction is due to the geometry of the toilet, and it will go the same way regardless of hemisphere.
2006-10-21 13:36:07 · answer #4 · answered by injanier 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
are you related to bart simpson?
lol
he asked this Q and went to Austrailia to find out...
fact is at the north pole you are 'spinning' at the dizzy speed of one revolution per day!
it is actuallly determined by the imperfect geometry of your toilet...
none are made as perecision as , for example, a space shuttle.
i have watched some go clockwise in the north.
2006-10-21 14:38:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reasoning behind flushing is to get rid of the waste.
2006-10-21 13:32:55 · answer #6 · answered by myste 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
different hemispheres?
2006-10-21 13:37:57 · answer #7 · answered by dumbdumb 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋