Water goes down the shower drain clockwise in North America and anticlockwise In South America. How do we call the phenomenon?
The Earth's rotation means that we experience an apparent force known as the Coriolis force. This deflects the direction of the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. This is why the wind-flow around low- and high-pressure systems circulates in opposing directions in each hemisphere.
The Coriolis effect was described by the 19th-century French physicist and mathematician Gustave-Gaspard de Coriolis in 1835. He formulated theories of fluid dynamics through studying waterwheels, and realized the same theories could be applied to the motion of fluids on the surface of the Earth.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
58 Comments

John Moore
In actual fact there is no truth in this at all. The Coriolis effect is too weak to make any difference. It's been demonstrated many times that water goes down a hole depending on the shape of the item it is running out of. It is a myth
26
Oct 8, 2019 10:24AM

Julie Allen
The influence of the Coriolis force on spin direction is real, but it is generally only observable on very large scales, such as trade winds and hurricanes. The affect the Coriolis force has on a toilet bowl is much too small to actually see in a flushing toilet but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
7
Oct 7, 2019 9:35PM

dick aspel
Anticlockwise indeed exists- and we invented English after all.
5
Oct 14, 2019 6:05PM
timwhitestevens
Carroll Price, I agree.
0
Nov 23, 2020 3:21AM
timwhitestevens
David Wilhite, I agree.
0
Nov 23, 2020 3:20AM
timwhitestevens
Julie Allen, That is because toilet bowls have a predetermined direction as indicated by their jets, or usually straight down. If you fill a large sink, that does not have a preferential disposition, you will see a whirl pool that spins in the direction determined by the coriolis force. This is the same direction that the earth rotates; counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. (The question got the directions backwards.) Try it.
0
Nov 23, 2020 3:19AM
timwhitestevens
John Moore, I disagree, as long as the container does not have any predetermined shape. I have tried this by letting the water out of a large sink that was full of water. The direction of the whirlpool in the United States was counter clockwise and in Australia was clockwise. Try it. (The question got the directions backwards.)
0
Nov 23, 2020 3:10AM
timwhitestevens
Except you got it backwards; it goes counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is because the earth rotates counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. This is the same with hurricanes. On the equator it does not rotate and goes straight down.
0
Nov 23, 2020 3:02AM

Dragon Rebel
It's a force!
0
Mar 8, 2020 12:01PM
David Wilhite
You got it backwards, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere it is based angular momentum.
1
Feb 8, 2020 10:35AM

teresab
New Yorkers waste water in the southern hemisphere watching the direction of the water.
0
Jan 12, 2020 11:08PM

Carroll Price
The explanation is wrong (backwards). In the northern hemisphere, water down drains (commodes, funnels, sinks) rotates in a COUNTER CLOCKWISE direction, as do hurricanes and wind directions revolving around low and high pressure systems. With the reverse holding true in the southern hemisphere.
2
Dec 3, 2019 9:10PM

Jim Adams
Funny I just call it water going down the drain.
0
Nov 12, 2019 1:31AM

Caroline Wolter Hall
John Moore, Reading Wikipedia are we? why is it that people who are SO WRONG have the biggest mouths??? It is a thousand percent true! Half my friends are in Australia. Is it a myth too that while we're having winter, they are having summer? Coriolis Effect from National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/coriolis-effect/ Coriolis Effect by NASA - I suppose they're wrong as well. https://www.nasa.gov/stem-ed-resources/coriolis-effect.html
1
Nov 8, 2019 6:25PM

Caroline Wolter Hall
Good question finally. It's in my book as well.
0
Nov 8, 2019 6:15PM

ebitnet
What we call it is a MYTH.
2
Nov 8, 2019 9:39AM

Idalia Venter
You can change the direction in which the water runs with your finger.
1
Nov 7, 2019 12:58AM

Cheryl McMeekin
Had no idea, guessed wrong.
0
Nov 4, 2019 1:48PM
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