2007-06-07 12:41:55 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Geography
No. It's an Urban Legend.
The force of the Earth's rotation is far too weak to affect the direction water swirls down the drain. The shape of the toilet/shower/etc has much more influence.
2007-06-07 12:45:06 · answer #1 · answered by rbanzai 5 · 2⤊ 4⤋
I'm sorry, but this is an urban legend. Although on a large scale, bodies of water will move in opposite directions in the different hemispheres, on a small scale, like the toilet, the rotation is based on the design of the bowl and just random luck. A toilet will not always rotate in the same direction in each hemisphere consistently. If this is for a school project, you'd better say 'Yes' because your teacher probably isn't very educated.
2007-06-07 12:47:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not really... A misconception continues to propagate in popular culture, that the Coriolis effect determines the direction in which bathtubs or toilets drain, such that water always drains in one direction in the Northern Hemisphere, and in the other direction in the Southern Hemisphere. Several science broadcasts and publications (including at least one college-level physics textbook) make the misunderstanding. Many people who misunderstand the Coriolis effect compound their misunderstanding by incorrectly claiming that drain water spins clockwise north of the equator, and counterclockwise south of it, which is reversed from direction of spin that would result from the Coriolis force if it were a determining factor.
2007-06-07 12:43:54 · answer #3 · answered by synapticeclipse 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes
2007-06-07 12:44:38 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The water goes in a different direction.
2007-06-07 12:49:23 · answer #5 · answered by Fussy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Up here in Alaska when you drop one in the outhouse the water shoots UP and hits you in the **** if it aint frozen. Its known as the " Wilderness Effect ". A very strange phenomenon indeed.
2007-06-07 19:50:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The fluid dynamics of the shape of the bowl are thousands (if not millions) of times stronger than the coriolis effects.
2007-06-07 12:47:42 · answer #7 · answered by Philo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm in a place a little above the equator and water move counter clockwise. I don't get it.
2007-06-07 16:20:28 · answer #8 · answered by junior 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YES!
What you heard about the Coriolis Effect is true.
2007-06-07 12:45:18 · answer #9 · answered by Zeera 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yup
2007-06-07 12:45:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋