Which way does the bath water go down the plughole in the two hemispheres of our globe?

Question

I have recently returned from NZ and, experimenting, came to the conclusion that normally water goes down the plughole in the southern hemisphere in an anticlockwise direction. However I met a proffesor of physics who told me that this was a myth. In scotland it goes down in a clockwise direction.

Answer 1

I must admit that my memory of school physics the statement of one way in the north and the opposite down south was what I was taught. That is not to say it is correct but if a myth it was in A level physics in the 60's and the debate has raged for years since then amongst many people with many degrees.
One of the best articles recently about this subject was in the Guardian and I give you the link below which argues in a readable way that the phenomena does actually exist - I think!!

Answer 2

i don't be attentive to the answer to draining water varieties, yet whilst the Corialis result has any effect on which way the water rotates down a plug hollow, all people who quoted its result, different than Lucas C, have it rotating the incorrect way around. The cyclonic result's Anticlockwise contained in the Northern H, and clockwise contained in the Southern H. by means of easterly path of Earth's rotation, which motives a gravitational drag in that axis, water and air currents are deflected faraway from the equator, peeling outwards and backwards. think of a deliver, because it plies contained in the direction of the water, its bow parting the waves open, because it have been. The water could curl clockwise on the suitable, anticlockwise on the left. The million dollar question is that if draining water is stricken by using the action of Earth's rotation.....and wherein path....? think of approximately this: in case you stand on the midsection of a horizontally clockwise rotating disk, you're turning clockwise. while you're putting by using the hands below it, you're turning anticlockwise!

Answer 3

You are correct. It is the theory of angular motion to do with the earth's magnetic poles. On the equator the water just goes straight down the plughole.

Answer 4

It depends on the bath.

The direction is determined by the shape of the bath, plug hole and any disturbances already in the water. It can go down either way on either hemisphere - the effect of the rotation of Earth is about the same as the gravitational pull of a passing small dog - ie negligible.

Answer 5

I am in Glasgow and I can tell you definitively that it goes down anti-clockwise in our kitchen sink. I moved here from Australia and the water there goes down clockwise. Whenever I look down the plughole here it looks weird to me because I'm used to it going down clockwise.

Here's an interesting discussion on the topic: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/coriolis.html

Answer 6

ITS A MYTH!!!!

Think about this: Does the clockwise movement slow down as you approach the equator? Does it go straight down (without swirling) in the equator? Slowly move counterclockwise as you move away from the equator???

Come on! It really depends on the shape and angle of the sink and its drain!

Answer 7

I thought it was the other way round - like cyclones/tornados, pealing away from the equator in the direction the Earth turns.

Answer 8

gravity & the position of the moon therfore the changes.

Answer 9

clockwise in the northern, anti clock in the southern.