So which way does the water swirl ?
November 9th 2007 06:54
A little bit of a quirky thing to write about I know but it is Friday and if you can't be quirky on a Friday then when can you be ?
Why does the water, when heading down a plug hole in the southern hemisphere, swirl in a different direction to the northern hemisphere ?
I remember a long time ago a snotty kid asking this question of a scientist TV, the scientist appeared dumb founded. Whether he didn't believe what the kid was pointing out or whether he felt it such an irrelevant question for his brain capacity to waste energy onperhaps we will never know.
So why is it the case ?
I guess the simple answer is that the direction the earth turns is relative to our location on the surface. When looking into the ground, one hemisphere will imagine the earth rotates clockwise whereas the other will see it rotating anti-clockwise. This is how gravity sees it and therefore the force that dictates the direction of swirl.
Ahhhh easy thats cleared it up in an uncomplicated way..... or has it.
One thing I always like to do is question the question, is the question indeed a question or is it fatally flawed to start with !
Does the water indeed swirl in a DIFFERENT direction or is it in fact swirling in the same direction ?
Just because we can say the earth rotates clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on our relative position on the surface ie northern or southern hemisphere, it does not mean the earth actually rotates in a different direction!
Therefore the water doesn't in fact swirl in a different direction relative to the earths movement, it always swirls in the opposite direction to the earths rotation whether that be clockwise or anti-clockwise.
So maybe the scientist was right all along, he had know the answer at birth and was a little shocked that everyone didn't know such a simple thing !
This is a clear example of how both answers can be right, many things in life can be viewed from different angles and still be right. Many people do things that you see as wrong but from there view point it makes perfect sense !
Why does the water, when heading down a plug hole in the southern hemisphere, swirl in a different direction to the northern hemisphere ?
I remember a long time ago a snotty kid asking this question of a scientist TV, the scientist appeared dumb founded. Whether he didn't believe what the kid was pointing out or whether he felt it such an irrelevant question for his brain capacity to waste energy onperhaps we will never know.
So why is it the case ?
I guess the simple answer is that the direction the earth turns is relative to our location on the surface. When looking into the ground, one hemisphere will imagine the earth rotates clockwise whereas the other will see it rotating anti-clockwise. This is how gravity sees it and therefore the force that dictates the direction of swirl.
Ahhhh easy thats cleared it up in an uncomplicated way..... or has it.
One thing I always like to do is question the question, is the question indeed a question or is it fatally flawed to start with !
Does the water indeed swirl in a DIFFERENT direction or is it in fact swirling in the same direction ?
Just because we can say the earth rotates clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on our relative position on the surface ie northern or southern hemisphere, it does not mean the earth actually rotates in a different direction!
Therefore the water doesn't in fact swirl in a different direction relative to the earths movement, it always swirls in the opposite direction to the earths rotation whether that be clockwise or anti-clockwise.
So maybe the scientist was right all along, he had know the answer at birth and was a little shocked that everyone didn't know such a simple thing !
This is a clear example of how both answers can be right, many things in life can be viewed from different angles and still be right. Many people do things that you see as wrong but from there view point it makes perfect sense !
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Summer Banks
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