Monday, August 07, 2006
Greetings from the other side
HOLA
Todays post comes from the other side of the world, I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I apologize if my punctuation is not so good. Among other things, I cannot seem to be able to type a question mark.
Having little time for reading things online, I would like to write today about a little bit of science that relates to my travels, namely, the myth that toilets and other bodies of water move in a different direction in the Southern hemisphere.
Before I explain why that is not true, let me say the toilet I frequent here does not move in a circle at all, in fact the water seems to rush in from all directions and then move directly out the back of the bowl. Its impressive, actually, and also a bit tempermental.
As the myth goes, toilets swirl one way in the north and another in the south due to something called the Coriolis effect. In fact, the coriolis effect is a real thing, that does effect large bodies of water such as hurricanes, http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html. It is also the effect noted when a projectile is launched from the poles, as the earth moves under it, the projectile will not land directly where it was aimed. But our toilets are too small to feel the effects of Coriolis, and our sinks are too tiny to feel the effects of the rotation of the earth.
One thing that IS opposite down here are the seasons, it is definitely winter here and I am wearing my hat and gloves! With any luck Ill be able to throw in a picture or two tomorrow
ADIOS
Todays post comes from the other side of the world, I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina and I apologize if my punctuation is not so good. Among other things, I cannot seem to be able to type a question mark.
Having little time for reading things online, I would like to write today about a little bit of science that relates to my travels, namely, the myth that toilets and other bodies of water move in a different direction in the Southern hemisphere.
Before I explain why that is not true, let me say the toilet I frequent here does not move in a circle at all, in fact the water seems to rush in from all directions and then move directly out the back of the bowl. Its impressive, actually, and also a bit tempermental.
As the myth goes, toilets swirl one way in the north and another in the south due to something called the Coriolis effect. In fact, the coriolis effect is a real thing, that does effect large bodies of water such as hurricanes, http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html. It is also the effect noted when a projectile is launched from the poles, as the earth moves under it, the projectile will not land directly where it was aimed. But our toilets are too small to feel the effects of Coriolis, and our sinks are too tiny to feel the effects of the rotation of the earth.
One thing that IS opposite down here are the seasons, it is definitely winter here and I am wearing my hat and gloves! With any luck Ill be able to throw in a picture or two tomorrow
ADIOS
# posted by Sarah : 7:38 PM
