Does the rotation of the earth affect toilets and baseball?

Brian K²2009-08-03T11:02:48Z

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The force you are referring to is the Coriolis effect The force is a relatively weak force that needs to work over a long time and distance to exhibit.

The toilet flushes which ever direction it was designed to flush, the Coriolis effect is total powerless to overcome the designed direction of flow.

As for the baseball the distances traveled are much too short to exhibit much if any effect of the earths rotation. In theory if you stood at the north pole and threw a baseball to the equator you would see that the ball "drifted" from you projected target.

Stuart2009-08-03T09:09:00Z

Yes, the angular momentum of the Earth's rotation will affect the way water drains in a toilet. Toilet's will drain in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere. The closer you get to the North or South pole the more angular momentum you have and so the slower the water will drain. At the equator the water should drain directly out without rotating. If you want to see a demo search for "Focault Pendulum" or Westburyhses@yahoo.com. Video is on YouTube.

michael9712009-08-03T09:31:01Z

It's a myth. The coriolus effect doesn't happen on a small scale.
It only works for ocean currents or weather systems that span hundreds or thousands of miles.

Anonymous2009-08-03T08:11:45Z

I know that above the equator toilets turn to the left when you flush them and below the equator they turn to the right. Look up the Coriolis effect and it will explain it better.

Not sure about baseball tho..