Water Experiment at the Equator

Several gentlemen at the equator in Kenya demonstrated how water drains differently in the northern and southern hemispheres. They first show water draining without rotation at the equator. They then demonstrate it draining clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere. The supposed reason for this rotation is the Coriolis effect, which has to do with the effect of the earth's rotation on moving objects. However, this effect, while explaining macroevents, has negligible effect on how water drains from a bathtub or how toilets flush...

In spite of this, all around the equator in South America and Africa, street vendors complete experiments demonstrating how the water rotates oppositely (our gentleman just happened to show the water spiraling erroneously clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere).

I will leave you to judge how they rigged the experiment.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• water draining at equator
• coriolis effect

[backyardsounds]

it's a trick, - he's playing with your heads.

[Masterzec]

I always wanted to try this myself.

[tymill]

I love these little shows that appear all along the equator wherever there's just enough tourist traffic.... Hey, the guy makes a couple of shillings and it's good fun. The spin's simply determined by how the water is poured in, of course. Good stuff!