A: Yes, but it’s probably not why you think. One of the best-known bits of trivia regarding the loo is that flushing one in the United States produces a clockwise swirl, whereas Australia’s toilets flush counterclockwise - a phenomenon said to be driven by the contrasting effects of the earth’s rotation upon the northern vs. the southern hemispheres.
What’s particularly fascinating about this oft-mentioned factoid, though, is that it’s entirely false. Although the explanation is grounded in a true natural phenomenon known as the Coriolis effect, this nugget of misinformation fudges the fact that over an area as small as a toilet — or, for that matter, an Olympic swimming pool — the Coriolis Effect’s effect is negligible. Whether in New Zealand or New Hampshire, your toilet will only flush in the direction its water jets tell it to. So the next time a so-called smarty-pants tries to pass that bit of misinformation your way, go ahead and laugh it off as bathroom humor.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
I have forwarded this article to the International Drainage Commission, in Springfield.
2 - STM
Ok, then smartypants, the truth is Aussie dunnies don't really swirl at all, as they are a slightly different shape and don't contain as much water, just like those of the UK and much of Europe.
When you flush, the work is done by fresh water replacing the yucky stuff - there is no swirl at all. Rather than watching brown trout going round and round in a wretched slow-motion display as you would in America, it's all gone in the blink of an eye, flushed away by a high-speed jet of fresh water. (Visitors to America often find the amount of water in US toilets extremely frightening, and their only redeeming factor is when you come home after a night on the piss: they make it easy to aim by ear in the dark.)
Apart from the fact that it saves a bit of water, it also (mostly) eliminates any possibility of that dreadful, peculiarly American phenomenon: the (dry retch here!) floater. I imagine there are always exceptions to the rule, however.
Now, if you are talking about unplugging a sink or a bathful of water, you actually will see the coriolis effect in operation, and the water will go the opposite way.
Fair dinkum ... first you have a dead King of Tonga alive, now you've got the dunnies all wrong.
3 - selena
ummmmmmmm im totally confused on everything