For about two months now, everytime someone flushes the toilet it tries to flush clockwise. If you don't push the lever and poor water, from a bucket, in the bowl it will flush clockwise. I need to know how this is possible and why it is doing this.
2007-04-04 05:15:17 · 4 answers · asked by Sarah R 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
I opened the tank and watched it drain, it too is going clockwise, all other drains in the house drain counter clockwise. The problem only started about two months ago. The toilet is the same, nothing has been done to it to make it do this.
2007-04-04 05:39:11 · update #1
Did I mention that it doesn't like doing what its doing, The water will fight its way down, if it goes down. In other words the toilet doesn't work since this started, unless it flows the right way, which doesn't happen very often anymore. Thanks everyone for your answers.
2007-04-04 07:52:28 · update #2
It's probably the way it's designed. It doesn't have to flush counter clockwise to work. Poeple talk about it flushing oin one direction in one hemisphere and the other direction in the other but that's bad science.
http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.asp
2007-04-04 05:21:23 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a common myth that toilets flush counter clockwise on one side of the equator and the oppositte on the other. But they are full of the same thing that my toilet is filled with. The way your toilet flushes has to do with the way it's designed. The way the water is directed has the most affect. Now why it's doing this... most likely it could have been porely designed or faulty parts. Have to look at it to be sure.
2007-04-04 05:52:00 · answer #2 · answered by curtisjb1983 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the coriolis effect is way too weak on earth to have any real effect on the flush direction despite what many people think. you can make the water go either clockwise or anticlockwise depending on flush speed, shape of bowl etc and other factors. try pulling out the plug from a basin of water and see what direction it goes; now, try making it go in the other direction. it can be done and as i said bowl shape probably has the greatest effect on flow direction.
2007-04-04 05:29:13 · answer #3 · answered by Scot-Rob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If anyone says it is due to the Coriolis effect, they don't know what they are talking about.
The direction of the vortex over small areas such as this is mainly caused by the initial force of the fluid, the shape of the vessel, and the shape of the drain.
2007-04-04 05:25:51 · answer #4 · answered by gebobs 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋