Which way does the water flow in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?

[Mr Poo]

I have just been told by an Australian friend that water flows Clockwise in Sydney. BUT it also flows clockwise in London. I thought they went in opposite directions! Please can someone confirm this.

[unknown]

they should flow in opposite directions depending on which side of the equator you are on. it is also the same for huricanes or as they are known to australians 'willy willys' (that was in a text book so it has almost certainly got to be true) you will also find that on the equator there are no huricanes and water doesn't spin

[bernardo]

Theoretically, water going down a plughole should go in opposite directions in the two hemispheres, but in practice this effect is only meaningful with very large bodies of water such as seas and oceans. In a normal bowl or bath, the direction of the flow will depend much more on other things, such as the way that the water was poured into it in the first place, the exact shape of the bowl, the turbulenmce which the water has had while being in the bowl, and so on. The difference between the two hemispheres is sometimes "demonstrated" by guides who make a living out of showing it to gullible tourists a few yards apart on either side of the equator. In reality, all they are doing is pouring the water into the bowl at a different angle for the two demonstrations.

[dave_in_cw]

straight down obviously.

[Gef]

I agree with bernado here. I have just filled two different washbasins in my flat (in Scotland) and then pulled the plug. One went clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. If you swirl the water in one direction before pulling the plug then that is the direction the vortex forms in. A small volume of water in a basin is not affected by the Earth's rotation but the atmosphere is.

[sddsddean]

Its called the Coriolis effect. Here are a few links.www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/ hutchinson/m0035039.html www.ukdivers.net/meteorology/coriolis.htm

[KEJ2000]

Some of the answers posted thus far are erroneous. Everyone, please read the following Web page, from the leading myth-debunking Website in the USA, if not the world! http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.htm

[answerbonk]

As KEJ says, all this talk of water flowing in different directions is myth, bunkum and tripe.
Here is a quote from the font of all knowledge, Snopes.
The belief that the Coriolis force influences the direction in which water drains from plumbing fixtures is widespread and has been repeated as fact in a number of venues, including popular television shows (such as world traveler Michael Palin's Pole to Pole) and even in textbooks. We can only speculate on why people are so enamored of this snippet of misinformation, guessing that it has something to do with the desire to find some of the mysteries of science in the realm of the everyday.

[Janetex]

I am witness to the fact that water does go down the plughole in opposite directions depending on hemisphere. Certain fixtures/plumbing sometimes alters this. Also, I saw a documentary with scientists testing this at the equator, the result being that the water went either way and straight down and, therefore, inconclusive. The Willy-willy thing,though, is a myth.

[Buffy]

People have also "witnessed" the Loch Ness Monster. Does that mean there really is one?