Remember when your physics teacher told you how the water spins clockwise in the north, counter-clockwise in the south - or is it the other way around? Anyway, its true, its really true!
I crossed the equator this week on my way to present an advocacy seminar in Mbarara, Uganda. That's Richard-over to the right. For 5 shillings, about $2.50 US, Richard will drop a flower in a make-shift drain to show you how the water spins and changes direction according to where you're standing three feet north or three feet south of the equator. And what happens on the equator . . . drains right down, straight down, no spin.
Very cool.
And if you're looking to drop a few pounds, move to the equator. You'll weigh about 10% less than you do now.
-Kathleen A. Bergin
This is a parlor trick to make money, not a demonstration of science. The Coriolis Force is far too small to affect little amounts of water in a drain over a short period (and six feet of difference between drains is also insignificant). See, e.g., Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/coriolis.html); College of Earth and Mineral Science at Penn State (http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html); and Snopes.com, which even mentions "hucksters who set up rigged demonstrations along the equator for the amusement of gullible tourists."(http://www.snopes.com/science/coriolis.asp).
Posted by: Ben | July 22, 2009 at 11:33 AM
No, no, Ben - please say you jest!!
I had heard it might be a hoax before I left, but saw it for myself and was wholly convinced. I told my friends, I told my family. I took pictures. Good God, I hesitate to click any of those links. I want to believe . . . I want to believe!!
Posted by: Kathy Bergin | July 22, 2009 at 12:29 PM