Does Water Drain Differently in the Southern Hemisphere?

I've heard that water actually drains opposite in the Southern Hemisphere than it does in the Northern Hemisphere. A quick Google search will back up these results.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• coriolis
• drain
• australia
• toilet
• direction

[tahaa7]

hong kong should be northern enough to test the myth. it is located at 22 degrees north latitude...

[TheAdUd]

I'm living in norway, north of norway (Bodø) and here it goes counter clock-wise

[chicagovigilante]

@rexthemonkey

Actually, if you were observing the Coriolis effect in the northern hemisphere, the water would appear to spin counter-clockwise down your drain (as cyclones do in the northern hemi).

However, the Coriolis effect doesn't produce any noticeable effect on water drainage. This is an urban legend. A drain is simply too small in scale and the water is moving too quickly to produce an observable effect. Remember, cyclones can be over 1000km in diameter! Compare that to a 5cm drain

[rexthemonkey]

I looked at it after doing the washing up today in Dublin, Ireland (northern hemisphere)

and it was clockwise..

So it's true..your northern hemisphere country just wasn't north enough..

[jonleehk]

i think you should go a little further up north to try it again. beijing might have worked better... ha ha ha

[nikadik5]

southern hemisphere is best