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From: jbell@grofe.DEC (Jeff Bell)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: The wild ride down the drain... (Coriolis force)
Message-ID: <50@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Dec-85 13:58:54 EST
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Posted: Tue Dec 17 13:58:54 1985
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[I don't know, but I always get this line anyways]

> Given a circular tub with a drain hole in the middle.  Water draining out
> of that hole will almost always form a whirlpool but that is because the
> body of water almost always has some initial (albeit small) angular momentum
> about the hole which determines the direction.

I once read someplace that it is possible to see the effect in a draining sink.
The hard part according to the article is trying to eliminate the vorticity
left from filling it.  The person doing the experiment had to wait for four
hours before getting consistent results.  After that long of a wait, it went
in the right direction 80% of the time and the wrong direction 20%.

I think that it was in  Jearl Walker's Scientific American Column about 2 or 3 
years ago, but I may be mistaken.


Jeff Bell
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