And that's the way water swirls...
Just two days ago I wasn't feeling well and decided to draw up a bath. Afterwards, I made note of how the water drained away. It was swirling around clockwise. OK, so I am in the southern hemisphere and water drains away going clockwise. So to those of you in the northern hemisphere, next time notice how water drains away and report back to me. The toilet isn't going to work. It'll need to go down a tub or sink. BTW, my friend Billy told me that this (water swirling in different directions depending on hemisphere) is a myth, and I want to confirm it.
posted by Karter @ 6:43 am
1 comments
1 Comments:
The simple answer is no, it doesn't. This is a great misconception -- based on something real in science. That is, large weather systems like hurricanes and cyclones do rotate in different directions in Earth's northern and southern hemispheres. The Coriolis force happens because we live on a round globe. Earth rotates eastward at about 1600 kilometers an hour -- or about 1000 miles an hour -- at its equator, but slower at higher latitudes . . .What really matter in your bathtub are small imperfections in the tub that impart a rotation to the draining water. So in either hemisphere, the water can go either way. We have a more detailed explanation of the Coriolis force -- and tell you the trick behind so-called "demonstrations" of the effect sometimes given to tourists at Earth's equator -- at our web site at earthsky.org. With thanks to the National Science Foundation, we're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
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