Why does the water got down the drain 1 way and not the other way ?

Answer 1

If somebody says "coriolis effect" they are wrong. That does not affect the drain as much as the internal movement of the water. Normally, if you turn on a faucet, it tends to push water to one side or the other, and that causes the water to circle the drain clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Answer 2

The coriolis effect is too weak to affect water going down the drain.
the layout of the water tank/sink/whatever and the movement of the water (which could be due to the effect of the water pouring into the sink from one tap or the other) are MUCH stronger than the exceedingly weak coriolis effect.

for a more comprehensive scientific explanation see here :
http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.asp

People - such as Michael H, below - easily fall into the trap of 'confirmation bias', which appears in many varieties.
Here, I would suggest, he is remembering; the times that the swirling water fits his bias, and forgetting (or ignoring, or 'explaining') the times that the swirl does not fit with his bias.
When I first heard about this, I madde a point of looking for the direction of flow. I have seen many occasions where the water flows one way in one place and another way in another facility, even in the same building

Answer 3

The Coriolis affect does not work at small scales like a sink or a bathtub. The water can go down either way depending on the shape of the bowl and the currents in the water. The Coriolis only works on large scale stuff like storms or ocean currents.

Answer 4

in case you have properly water then you definately've a septic equipment. The drain empties waste water into the septic equipment. in the adventure that your water smells undesirable, that could have no longer something to do with the septic equipment. in spite of if that's coming from the drain although then it ought to. i might have the water examined at your county extension workplace as water with a undesirable scent is a ability wellbeing situation. If it exams out ok, you need to place in an entire dwelling house water filter out. this might do away with the scent besides as a brilliant kind of alternative contaminates. actual do no longer pour something like a bottle of bleach into your drain as this might purely smash the micro organism that keeps your septic equipment breaking down human waste, and so on.

Answer 5

Indeed so, Nick - but the reason WHY is the magnetic flux of the Earth. The north pole it goes down clockwise I believe and at the south pole it would be the other way round ... but more to the point, does it actually sing a song whilst it goes down or is it just a pleasing gurgle? :D

Answer 6

It depends on the shape of your sink which way the water goes, but you can persuade the water to go either way by spinning it before you pull out the plug.

It's a myth that the water only goes one way in each hemisphere of the earth. Experiments show that this is a load of rubbish.

Answer 7

For the same reason that hurricanes rotate anticlockwise in the Northern hemisphere, but cyclones rotate clockwise in the Southern hemisphere - Coriolis Force, due to the Earth's rotation (at the Equator it goes straight down without rotation).

Answer 8

If its a myth then i must have come across one of the worlds most stricking co-incidences. All my sinks, baths and showers rotate clockwise.

All 15 of them

nothing to do with the taps pushing water of such rubbish. when i pull the plug this happens.

I guess they were all made with just exactly the same amount of distortion in thier castings. Quite a feat considering the range we have covers enamel, resin, cast iron, steel and acrylic.

Or maybe its not a myth

Answer 9

It is because of the Corolis effect which is caused by the Earths rotation. It does not go down in different directions in the S Hemisphere, it only seems that way. In the N hemisphere we are "on top" of the plug hole and it seems to go down one way. In the S hemisphere we will be "underneath" the plughole and it will seem to us to be going down the other way. It only goes down in one direction though. That is why the moon seems upside down when we are in the S hemisphere, it is not the moon that is upside down, it is us.

Answer 10

Gravity - water will always run downhill