Does Toilet Water Flush Differently Down Under?

We don’t like to let go of our tightly held beliefs and urban legends, do we? When I went to Quito, Ecuador a few years ago, I visited the Equator Museum. I had my picture taken with one fo... See More

We don’t like to let go of our tightly held beliefs and urban legends, do we? When I went to Quito, Ecuador a few years ago, I visited the Equator Museum. I had my picture taken with one foot on each side of the equator. A carefully orchestrated demonstration was performed to show my tourist friends and I how water drained in different directions depending on whether the basin was on the left or the right of the equator. I took video clips of the demo – I knew what I was seeing should not be true! Lo and behold, when I studied the videos, I could see that the demonstrator manipulated ever so casually the direction of the water flow so that it would rotate clockwise on one side of the equatorial line and counterclockwise on the other side. This article is an excellent explanation of the Coriolis effect and why it may not hold true with smaller water-filled sinks with normal-sized openings. The article provides a connection between the Coriolis effect and hurricane winds in the Northern Hemisphere and explains how students can investigate this concept using paper plates and a Lazy Susan. Reading this article will save North Americans a trip to Australia if they have ever wondered which way the water goes down the drain - down under. I would still like to see for myself which direction the toilet water flushes!

Which Way Did it Go?

This article gives an excellent discussion on the Coriolis effect in several instances. It is a misconception that water flows down the drain one way north of the equator and the opposite d... See More

This article gives an excellent discussion on the Coriolis effect in several instances. It is a misconception that water flows down the drain one way north of the equator and the opposite direction south of the equator. But this article never gives a good way to prove that it is a misconception to students!!!