Why do toilets north and south of the equator flush in different directions?

It’s a fact confirmed by cartoons and travel shows: Flush a toilet in England and the water swirls counterclockwise; flush one in Australia and it empties clockwise. The reason? The Earth’s rotation experts a spinning force – called the Coriolis Effect – on the draining water, and this force works in opposite directions on either side of the Equator. Flush your toilet to see the Coriolis Effect in full effect. Neat, huh?

There’s just one problem: The Earth’s rotation has nothing to do with the direction of draining toilet water. Hidden jets under the rim of the toilet determine which way the water drains, and that direction varies by manufacture rather than by hemisphere. While the Coriolis Effect affects the spin of large-scale phenomena such as hurricanes, the planet’s rotation is much too slow to affect your flush.

 

Picture Credit : Google