A Melbourne physics professor thinks he knows why the bath water gurgles out of the plughole in clockwise direction and not counterclockwise. It all depends where and how the plumber set the plughole.
╥At least that is the factor which counts most,╙ said Professor Caro, aged 39, a Professor of Experimental Physics at Melbourne University. He filled several baths and watched the water run out. This is one experiment where the layman is on exactly the same terms as a scientist,╙ he said.
Professor Caro, who usually deals in such esoteric items as atoms and radio isotopes, had his interest pricked by a report from London that the problem had also baffled the British industrialist Sir Miles Thomas, aged 65, the former BOAC chairman, who said he could not discover if the plughole swirl was different in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.
The Australian scientist said he would be very surprised if bathwater ran out counterclockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere, as reported in 1955 by a British scientist. Dr Richard Scorer, of London╒s Imperial College of Science. Three Melbourne reporters meanwhile put the dispute to an impromptu test. Their conclusion ╤ that some Melbourne bathtubs empty clockwise and some counter-clockwise.
