Location, location, location! Depends on whether you're north or south of the equator (the line that cuts a globe in half ); you know, like in the episode of the Simpsons when Bart has to go to Australia to apologize.
Good question. In the Northern hemisphere the water turns clockwise going down the plughole whilst in the Southern half, it goes anticlockwise. Not only that, but cyclones do the same. Why? I am marking this one as 'one to watch' for the answer.
this result does no longer artwork. for one, I easily have seen it rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise, extra so clockwise than others, yet that has extra to do with different issues than the coriolis result. My cosmology professor from Cal Tech tells us that for the time of order to be sure this, you ought to favor thoroughly organic water, undisturbed, sitting for some days in the previous any sort of rotation takes position, or maybe nevertheless it would not be as speedy simply by the indisputable fact that is contained in the bathroom or sink or bathtub. in accordance to my professor, that is a myth.
Whether the toilet flushes in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction depends mainly on the shape of the bowl and the direction the water is let into the bowl. The coriolis force, created by the rotation of the earth, is far too weak to have any influence. The same is true for the drain in a bath tub or shower. The coriolis force does effect the directions of weather lows and hurricanes though. But there the small effect is working on a much larger area and its cumulative small effect adds up to a large enough force to control the direction of lows to be counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
Flushing an Urban Legend The Coriolis Effect does not cause water to spiral down drains (or toilets) differently in the Northern Southern Hemispheres. The size of a sink, tub, or toilet bowl is too small compared to the size of the Earth. Coriolis Effect is much smaller than other motions, like water jets or swirling the water with your hand. Try it. Fill a sink with water, set the water it swirling clockwise and then pull the plug. Then do it again, this time swirling it counterclockwise before pulling the plug.
