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Does water go down plug holes in different directions in the northern and southern hemispheres?
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Some say yes, some say no...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/quer y/0,5753,-20326,00.html
Does anyone know for definite?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/quer y/0,5753,-20326,00.html
Does anyone know for definite?
Have just done a highly technical scientific test and the result is inconclusive. Filled the handbasin and slightly swirled the water left and pulled the plug. Near the end the water rotated left. Did the same with swirling to the right and the water went down to the right.
When you think about it, there is no reason why it would start turning any particular way in one specific hemisphere. Perhaps the way you get out of the bath, or pull the plug sets up a very slight water movement and this is increased when it goes down with air near the end.
When you think about it, there is no reason why it would start turning any particular way in one specific hemisphere. Perhaps the way you get out of the bath, or pull the plug sets up a very slight water movement and this is increased when it goes down with air near the end.
The answer is "Yes and no!"
There IS an influence, called the Coriolis Effect, which affects LARGE systems, such as weather and sea-currents moving over the earth's surface. However, it has no real influence on something as relatively tiny as a basinful/bathful of water. In fact, the eddies and currents created by filling the bath are vastly more powerful and would take days to settle down to complete stillness. Consequently, the water will generally flow OUT in the same direction as that in which it flowed IN. If your hot tap is on the right and your bath has mostly hot water in it, inflowing water will largely circle clockwise and vice versa if the tap-positions are reversed. Consequently, that will almost certainly be the direction in which the water will flow OUT, too. So, there - re small containers - is the "No" answer
Engineers at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology - clearly in the northern hemisphere - built a large, wide tank in the 1950s with a small plug-hole at its centre. They filled it and left it to settle for several days, then opened the valve. In each of the many repetitions of the experiment, the water DID start to swirl in an anticlockwise direction. When they deliberately set up a clockwise swirl, it invariably died down and returned to anticlockwise. The explanation, apparently is that - if the water has settled completely - it is rotating, along with everything else on earth. The fluid particles nearest to the equator are obviously moving more quickly than those furthest from it and, when they are released through the plug-hole, they develop their characteristic direction-finding properties.
There IS an influence, called the Coriolis Effect, which affects LARGE systems, such as weather and sea-currents moving over the earth's surface. However, it has no real influence on something as relatively tiny as a basinful/bathful of water. In fact, the eddies and currents created by filling the bath are vastly more powerful and would take days to settle down to complete stillness. Consequently, the water will generally flow OUT in the same direction as that in which it flowed IN. If your hot tap is on the right and your bath has mostly hot water in it, inflowing water will largely circle clockwise and vice versa if the tap-positions are reversed. Consequently, that will almost certainly be the direction in which the water will flow OUT, too. So, there - re small containers - is the "No" answer
Engineers at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology - clearly in the northern hemisphere - built a large, wide tank in the 1950s with a small plug-hole at its centre. They filled it and left it to settle for several days, then opened the valve. In each of the many repetitions of the experiment, the water DID start to swirl in an anticlockwise direction. When they deliberately set up a clockwise swirl, it invariably died down and returned to anticlockwise. The explanation, apparently is that - if the water has settled completely - it is rotating, along with everything else on earth. The fluid particles nearest to the equator are obviously moving more quickly than those furthest from it and, when they are released through the plug-hole, they develop their characteristic direction-finding properties.
Definitely not. As Quizmonster states the Coriolis effect only applies to very large systems which are affected by the Earth's rotation.
However, I don't (for once) agree with the rest of Quizmonsters answer. After you have filled your bath you splish and splash about in it and so how it drains cannot have anything to do with which side the taps are on. With the MIT tank I think the direction of draining would be influenced more by the imperfections in the tank than the Coriolis effect.
However, I don't (for once) agree with the rest of Quizmonsters answer. After you have filled your bath you splish and splash about in it and so how it drains cannot have anything to do with which side the taps are on. With the MIT tank I think the direction of draining would be influenced more by the imperfections in the tank than the Coriolis effect.
Why not experiment for yourself? Over the next few days check in all the places possible in both your home and other places you may find yourself availled of the means. If it always turns the same way ( once settled as Q mentioned) you may be on to something. As I now find myself curious, you can be sure that I will be doing some testing of my own.
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