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Re: [Phys-l] Coriolis Misconception



M. Horton (2008), in his Physhare post titled "Re: Coriolis Misconception" references the northern-hemisphere draining-bathtub experiment of Ascher Shapiro (1962), but doesn't mention its southern-hemisphere counterpart by Trefethen et al. (1965).

For the above and other references related to the Coriolis Effect see "More on Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs" [Hake (1994)] and "Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs" [Hake (2002)].

Quoting from Hake (1994) [references are updated]:

"The heroic efforts required for these bathtub-vortex observations are summarized by Walker (2006), but are well worth reading in the original. For the less heroic, or those averse to the splinters of wooden bathtubs [Trefethen et al. (1965)], a plastic-pail bathtub may be placed on a merry-go-round with an angular velocity omega of about 10^4 greater than that of the Earth. Merry-go-round rotations simulating northern and southern hemispheres then result in water vortices around the drain that are, respectively, consistently counterclockwise and clockwise. This experiment can be performed by introductory-course students [Hake (1998)].

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands.
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>


REFERENCES
Hake, R.R. 1992. "Socratic Pedagogy in the Introductory Physics Laboratory," Phys. Teach 30: 546-552; updated version (4/27/98) at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/SocPed1.pdf> (88 kB).

Hake, R.R. 1994. "More on Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs," Letters to the Editor, Am. J. Phys. 62(12): 1063; online to subscribers at <http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=AJPIAS&Volume=62&Issue=12>. See also the two accompanying letters by Hanneken (1994) and Robertson (1994).

Hake, R.R. 1998. Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Lab #3, "Circular Motion and Frictional Forces," online at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>. A Teacher's Guide is available on request. SDI labs [see, e.g., Hake (1992)] are among the more effective interactive-engagement methods and are freely available on the web. Unfortunately, the Socratic Method is widely misunderstood - see e.g., Hake (2007).

Hake, R.R. 2002. "Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs," online at <http://tinyurl.com/6qa9ns>. Post of 11 Feb 2002 15:21:31-0800 to Physhare, Phys-L, & PhysLrnR.

Hake, R.R. 2007. "The Socratic Method of the Historical Socrates, Plato's Socrates, and the Law School's Socrates," online at <http://tinyurl.com/5fueh9>. Post of 21 Jun 2007 13:43:05-0700 to AERA-J, AERA-L, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, and POD.

Hanneken, J.W. 1994. "Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs," Am. J. Phys. 62(12): 1063. online to subscribers at at <http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=AJPIAS&Volume=62&Issue=12>.
Horton, M. 2008. "Re: Coriolis Misconception," Physhare post of 6 Aug 2008 06:09:20-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/6g2ue2>.

Robertson, C. 1994. "Still more on Coriolis myths and draining bathtubs - films and video tapes," Am. J. Phys. 62(12): 1063; online to subscribers at at <http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=AJPIAS&Volume=62&Issue=12>.
Shapiro, A.H. 1962. "Bathtub Vortex," Nature 196: 1080 - 1081 (1962); film Vorticity, Educational Services, Inc., Watertown, Mass., 1961); film loop #FM-15, The Bathtub Vortex, ibid., 1963.

Trefethen, L.M., R.W. Bilger, P.T. Fink, R.E. Luxton, and R.I. Tanner. 1965. "Bathtub Vortex in the Southern Hemisphere," Nature 207: 1084-1085.

Walker, J. 2006. "The Flying Circus of Physics," 2nd edition. John Wiley. Walker, on page 92, gives other references germane to the experiments. Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/59urxv>. Note the "Search Inside" feature.