I was told once that if my kitchen sink was filled with water,that when I pulled the plug out the water would?

Question

The water would run down the plug hole in a clockwise direction..but in Australia the water would run down in a anticlockwise direction...is this theory fact or fiction.

Answer 1

It is Fact.

It is called the Coriolis Effect.

Consider a basin filled with still water on a non-rotating planet. If we opened a smooth sided, perfectly symmetrical drain in the bottom of the basin the water would flow straight in from the sides to the location of the drain to replace that water which fell out the hole.

Now if we conducted the same experiment but had some initial rotary motion of the water in the basin so that the water as a whole has some angular momentum about the drain axis, the path of a water molecule coming in from the edge of the basin to the hole would be a spiral wrapping around the drain in the direction of the initial rotation. And, as the moment of inertia of the water mass decreases due to more of it residing in the drain pipe, the angular velocity of the remaining mass increases as required by the conservation of angular momentum, making the rotation more noticeable.

Next let's transport our basin to the surface of the Earth in the northern latitudes. There if we start with no initial motion between the basin and the water, is there any angular momentum relative to an inertial reference frame? Well... yes. The basin and its water complete one revolution counterclockwise each 24 hours. In principle this will cause a counterclockwise vortex in the draining water. This effect is stronger, the farther north we go, being maximum at the north pole.

The problem with this is that this rotational effect is very weak. It is easily overcome by other effects like the residual motion left from filling the basin or convection currents coming from temperature changes in the fluid. In practice you must have a very large, stable basin and wait for a loooong time after filling before you can get consistent results.

The water motion described here is a manifestation of the Coriolis effect.

Answer 2

Fiction. Try it you can make it go either way. The Coriolis force is sooo tiny on small bodies of water that the shape of the sink and flow from the tap has a far greater effect. This force is important for massive water bodies such as the Atlantic, which moves in an anticlockwise direction in the northern Hemisp and clockwise in the southern.

Answer 3

Why not in New Zealand? Papua New Guinea? Or the countries of South Africa? Or South America. Somebody here said that's because of Equator. If you are in Quito, Equator, you cross the invisible line up and down and see the water running clockwise and counterclockwise?
Stupidity Of Men.

Read this, specially Draining bathtubs/toilets Section.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect

Answer 4

Sounds to me like the drain pipe for the bathing gadget is clogged; prolly with accumulated cleansing soap and this is backing as much as the sink drain. i might 1st get a drain snake from Lowes or domicile Depot and take a examine out to bathe the line the bathing gadget makes use of and pour some warm water down it. try this some circumstances then pour some liquid Plummer down the comparable drain and enable it sit down for half-hour to an hour. Reconnect the release hose and set the gadget to this is smallest cycle and run it. look ahead to any lower back up as quickly because of the fact the spin cycle starts. in case you notice no problems then bypass forward and pour some greater LP down the comparable drain and wait. Then reconnect discharge hose as quickly as lower back and run a load of laundry..... this ought to do it; if no longer then call a plumber to have the strains professionally wiped clean yet determine you do it for the duration of in many circumstances happening business enterprise hours or the fee doubles.

Answer 5

Fiction. The water will drain completely LONG LONG before the Coriolis effect would impart any visible motion to the water. The direction of the spin will depend on the construction of your sink, and if you took it anywhere in the world, it'd spin the same way.

Answer 6

Fiction

The psuedoscientific explanation is that it is the result of the Coriolis Effect. Actually, the effect has little impact on the direction of the water.

In fact, the cause is minute currents from filling the sink, the sink not being symmetrical, the actual removal of the plug etc etc

Answer 7

Fiction!

Answer 8

It depends on how close we are to the gravitation centre of the world. within a domestic sink the differences are indiscernible. Although a whirlpool at sea would show more of the differences...

Remember - The world revolves in what we call Anti-Clockwise direction.

Answer 9

Fiction. If you look around the net, I'm sure you can find it. I saw a British TV show called Brainiac which disproved it. The Mythbusters probably did something like that too

Answer 10

It's fact. I forgot what it is called, but it has to do with that north of the equator the water turn clockwise, and south of the equator counterclockwise. The magnetic fields of the poles play a large factor in it.