Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

Hey, if you flush the toilet in the Southern Hemisphere, the water is supposed to swirl in the opposite direction as it goes down. I don't think this is true but I never had a chance to do an experiment to see if it's true.

I'll go flush my toilet right now and see which way it swirls...
OK, it swirls COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. I am in the Northern Hemisphere.

I don't think I'll have an opportunity to visit the Southern Hemiphere anytime soon, so if you live there, please try flushing your toilet. (And if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, does your toilet swirl counter-clockwise like mine does?)

I wonder what happens if you're at the North Pole, or South Pole, or on the Equator?

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The toilet is too small a system for the coriolis effect to have any implication. Wich way the water turns in the toilet is based on where the water enters, imperfections in the toilet and where it exits. A toilet that spins the water clockwise on the nortern hemisphere will do so also on the south hemisphere.
The coriolis effect needs large weather systems to really make any impact.

Better explanation

[ December 17, 2002, 07:55: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

Wow, thanks, Ruatha! I remember hearing about the water swirling the opposite way in the Southern Hemisphere a number of times from different people, and each time I heard it, I had this nagging feeling that it didn't seem right... but I couldn't come up with a good argument to say why it's not right, so I couldn't disagree, and it sort of bothered me for years!

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

you can alway fill up your sink or bathtub and let it drain. that will be affected by the effect.

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">no, the answer is simple: you buttered the wrong side.

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

Next time, I'll butter half of one side and half of the other side, so at least I know that I'm half right about which side to put the butter on.

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">-nope, it won't.
It's just to small a system to be effected by the coriolis effect.

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

Well, if you plugged up most of the drain so it drained very slowly, the Coriolis force could eventually reverse it, given enough time. It affects all systems; it just is a weak force compared to the force of the rotation of the system.

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If it drained very slowly it wouldn't build up any momentum for it to spin, right?
It would essentially be a system with water standing still. And you don't se still standing water starting to spin by itself just becourse you let it be for a couple of weeks, months, years...

[ December 18, 2002, 15:09: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Re: Make me a signature or... something
 

I'm assuming there's some momentum to begin with. It wouldn't reverse the flow, but it would slow it down/stop it.