2007-02-20 07:26:33 · 23 answers · asked by *Jack* 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Geography
I have read many articles about this effect and it is not true. The direction that water goes down a toilet is based on the construction of the toilet more that which hemisphere of the earth you are on. The effect of the earths rotation is not strong enough to affect small flows of water.
2007-02-20 07:33:47 · answer #1 · answered by Barkley Hound 7 · 7⤊ 1⤋
The coriolis effect is much too small to have an effect on the direction of water rotation in a toilet. Toilets all over the world rotate both directions, as a result of their design.
2007-02-20 15:49:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Don't believe what you hear about Coriolis making the water in a sink or toilet rotate one way as it drains in one hemisphere, the other way in the other hemisphere. The Coriolis force is noticeable only for large-scale motions such as winds.
The best Web material found on the Coriolis force is the Bad Coriolis part of the Bad meteorology Web site of Alistair Fraser of Pennsylvania State University.
2007-02-20 15:30:20 · answer #3 · answered by missourim43 6 · 7⤊ 1⤋
Canada, United States, Mexico, South America, Africa, Australia...
Get the picture yet?
It happens anywhere.
2007-02-20 20:07:11 · answer #4 · answered by Get A Grip 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water goes down the toilet or plug-hole which ever way it is easier for it to go! I checked up on Wikipedia and am most disappointed to learn that the Northern/Southern hemisphere thingy is just a myth.
2007-02-20 16:15:50 · answer #5 · answered by purple_peter 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Once again the vast majority of the morons in this world believe the myth...as evidenced by the majority of answers here being wrong. Yes, the coriolis force is a real force, but it is far too weak to affect motions within a sink or toilet. (Unless your sink is a hundred miles across)
2007-02-20 15:52:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
All of them. Check out how your toilet is constructed.
The Coriolis Effect is so small that the water will have gone down the drain before you'd see any visible effect on the water.
2007-02-20 16:12:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
There certainly are many countries, all of them south of the Equator, where water goes down plugholes anticlockwise. I once tried to verify this effect at the Equator Hotel in Kenya which straddled the Equator. We filled a bath in the Northern Hemisphere and observed its direction of flow as it exited the plughole. Then we repeated the experiment in the Southern Hemisphere. As an additional experiment we obtained slices of bread and butter to test the theory that they always fall butter side down when dropped in the north and bread side down in the south. By this time we were unable to remember the results of any of the experiments due to the fact that beer goes straight to your head when poured into your mouth.
2007-02-20 15:35:43 · answer #8 · answered by BARROWMAN 6 · 2⤊ 4⤋
Crikey! That old myth still around according to the answers u rec'd, mate. A bit of folklore that is.
2007-02-24 11:33:50 · answer #9 · answered by choose happiness 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The spinning of the earth has an effect on moving objects: it deflects them and causes them to turn slightly to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemisphere they turn to the left. The "Coriolis effect" works equally on a ball and on a ballistic missle.
2007-02-20 17:36:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋