Bit of help?

[Solytus]

My physics teacher told us to go home and flush a toilet to see which direction the water spins, and also wanted us to ask someone in the southern hemisphere to flush and see which direction their water flows, so long story short, is anyone in the southern hemisphere willing to flush their toilet and tell me which way the water spins?

 

[meatloaf231]

That's probably one of the strangest requests I have ever heard.

"Hey, can someone go flush their toilet for me? It's for science!"

 

[Rabid Toilet]

I don't live in the southern hemisphere, but I'll save you the trouble of asking.

Whichever way your water spins, it will be the opposite direction in the opposite hemisphere.

 

[Solytus]

I thought that too, but then my teacher went and confused me with stuff about bathtubs and sinks. But cool, thanks.

 

[Easykill]

Actually, I've heard that's bullshit. Apparently that counts for like real whirlpools and stuff, but in tiny, man-made environments it doesn't take effect. Unless I've been lied to. Hey, what was it called again? Coriolis effect maybe?

 

[Thaliur]

I would, but I'm not on the southern hemisphere.

I just wanted to express my confusion about spinning toilet water. All I ever saw in any toilet I ever used was just a more-or-less straight rush of about nine litres of water. Apparently US toilets are quite different from ours.

But I think I can help you. Influenced by the Coriolis force, the water should rotate in the opposite direction on the opposite hemisphere, but there are an awful lot of possible influences on flowing water, so that the actual direction in which it spins can hardly be predicted. There is a statistical trend to one direction though.

 

[Ionait]

poof

 

[Rabid Toilet]

Oh yeah, I remember getting that question wrong, which confused me.

I suppose with a toilet, or whatever, it depends on which direction the water is shot out from. If the holes were pointing clockwise, then it would go that direction, regardless of where you lived.

Normal bodies of water will form whirlpools in opposite directions when funneled through an opening on opposite sides of the earth.

 

[Ancalagon]

It is called the coriolis effect, and as other people have suggested, it doesn't affect which way the water drains in small systems, such as bathtubs and toilets, because other factors have a far greater influence on the way the water drains.

 

[TMAN10112]

It's a fact that flushed water always spins clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. p.S. im in the northern hemisphere

 

[Solytus]

Fantastic answer, thanks. =D

 

[crepesack]

nothern hemispher goes clockwise whilst southern goes counter clockwise due to the Coriolis effect in that while one hemisphere is spinning the opposite direction relative to the other