"Buys-Ballot's law, in meteorology, is the name given to a law which may be expressed as follows: In the Northern Hemisphere, stand with your back to the wind; the low pressure area will be on your left. In other words, wind travels counterclockwise around low pressure zones in the Northern Hemisphere. It is approximately true in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, and is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, but the angle between barometric gradient and wind is not a right angle in low latitudes. See Coriolis effect#Flow around a low-pressure area."\n...does Buys-Ballot's law have anything to do with why toilets flush counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere? (LOL)
124844
Nah. The water spin cycle is purely equatorial, and related to the spinning of the planet in relation to the section of the earth where your toilet is.
351231
Wind is the roughly horizontal movement of air (as opposed to an air current) caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface. It occurs at all scales, from local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting tens of minutes to global winds resulting from solar heating of the Earth. The two major influences on the atmospheric circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet (Coriolis effect).\n\nGiven a difference in barometric pressure between two air masses, a wind will arise between the two which tends to flow from the area of high pressure to the area of low pressure until the two air masses are at the same pressure, although these flows will be modified by the Coriolis effect in the extratropics.\n\nWinds can be classified either by their scale, the kinds of forces which cause them (according to the atmospheric equations of motion), or the geographic regions in which they exist. There are global winds, such as the wind belts which exist between the atmospheric circulation cells. There are upper-level winds, such as the jet streams. There are synoptic-scale winds that result from pressure differences in surface air masses in the middle latitudes, and there are winds that come about as a consequence of geographic features such as the sea breeze. Mesoscale winds are those which act on a local scale, such as gust fronts. At the smallest scale are the microscale winds which blow on a scale of only tens to hundreds of metres and are essentially unpredictable, such as dust devils and microbursts.\n\nYou could get more information from the link below...
652205
One question at a time.\n\nThe first one has been answered. Becasue of the earths tilt, countries in the southern hemisphere are closer to the sun in December than the countries in the northern hemisphere - that is why we have winer here (its further away). And when the earth goes around to the other side of its orbit around the sun in July, we in the northern hemisphere are closer, while they are farther. \n\nThis the general rule, however there are many other factors like elevation, precipitation, wind patterns, jet streams, ocean currents etc etc. so yes - every country in the northern hemisphere it is officially summer in july etc. but not necessarily as warm as some other countries can get. and vice versa for the southern hemisphere of course.\n\nAll of us - when we stand up, we are perpendicular to the earths surface no matter where we are. Imagine a ball ... and pins sticking straight out of the ball. This is how we'd look, so to a person on the south POLE, would be upside down to someone on the north POLE. or someone in one area, will be upside to someone else DIRECTLY on the other side the earth's surface. Everyone else will be in varying degrees of "upsidedownness"\n\nDaylight savings time is a pure man made concept. But again ... because of the tilt of the earth, during July etc. the sun shines longer on the northern hemisphere (The days are longer) and the southern hemisphere the days are shorter. This causes the sun to rise earlier and earlier and then after the longest day of the year, it reverses - the days get shorter and shorter. \n\nNow what happens is that you can wake up at 6 am and it still be pitch dark and 7 am it starts to rise and 8 am its fully light. So they change the time to go an hour back (Fall Back) and this allows the time now to be 5 am as pitch dark, 6 am start rise, and 7 am fully light. So for people who wake up at 7 am everyday, the first plan it will be kinda  dark when they wake up but with daylight savings, it will be fully light when they wake up! Thus its just something certain countries do to be able to have light for when most people wake up in the morning - even if you are not a mornig person - about 90% of people wake up at that time to to go to work\n\nHope all this made sense and email me at alxsml@yahoo.com for more clarification.
313506
this is a fallacy.  The toilet doesn't flush in any particular order.  It's not big enough to experience the coriolis effect.  You can try your own experiment.  Flush your toilet 10 times and see which way the water goes.  So to answer your question, yes the toilet will flush on the equator, it's still subject gravity.
326546
U.S. federal code calls for the canton to always be positioned to the left.\n\nThe Army actually has two authorized flag patches, one to be worn on the left shoulder, with the canton facing left, and another "reverse field" patch worn on the right, with the canton facing right. \n\nThe two different orientations are mandated because Army regulations call for the flag "to be worn so that to observers, it looks as if the flag is flying against a breeze," Heath said. \n\nWhat does a stiff wind have to do with this custom?\n\nIn fact, the rule is a nod to the U.S. Army's early history, when wars were fought as a series of carefully choreographed battles -- two armies meeting on a field, clashing head-on until one side emerged victorious. \n\nIn those battles, both mounted cavalry and infantry units would always designate one soldier as "standard bearer," to carry the Colors into the fight. \n\nAs the standard bearer charged, his rapid forward momentum would cause the flag to stream back. \n\nAnd since the Stars and Stripes is mounted with the canton closest to the pole, that section would always be forward. \n\nSo if a soldier is charging into the battle, the flag would give the appearance of forward motion. For the right shoulder, the flag only appears "backward."\n\nAnd that's why soldiers wear the flag patches on the right shoulder "backward." Because retreat in battle, as any soldier will tell you, is not the Army way.
460536
I'm certainly no expert, but from my high school physics days I recall something about Bode's law.  You might be able to Google or Wikipedia it.  It was an explanation, in Newtonian physics terms, of why the planets are where they are.
37470
You'll want to understand what the Coriolis effect is. The Coriolis effect is a few orders of magnitude smaller than other random influences on drain direction, such as the geometry of the sink, toilet, or tub; whether it is flat or tilted; and the direction in which water was initially added to it. If one takes great care to create a flat circular pool of water with a small, smooth drain; to wait for eddies caused by filling it to die down; and to remove the drain from below (or otherwise remove it without introducing new eddies into the water) – then it is possible to observe the influence of the Coriolis effect in the direction of the resulting vortex. There is a good deal of misunderstanding on this point, as most people (including many scientists) do not realize how small the Coriolis effect is on small systems. This is less of a puzzle once one remembers that the earth revolves once per day but that a bathtub takes only minutes to drain. When the water is being drawn towards the plughole, the radius with which it is spinning around it decreases, so its rate of rotation increases from the low background level to a noticeable spin in order to conserve its angular momentum (the same effect as bringing one's arms in on a swivel chair making it spin faster).
252383
In the northern hemisphere, the overall ocean current is clockwise.  That means, on the West Coast of the USA, the water is moving down from the Arctic (brrr!), while on the East Coast, it is moving up from the equator (ahhhh!).  But that's just the coastal United States.
613010
The Coriolis Effect has nothing to do with water down a drain. It is a broad phenomenon that mainly acts on the atmosphere as the earth rotates. On the small scale of a drain and the high density of water versus air, the Coriolis Effect is completely drowned by the force of gravity and fluid currents. In a normal sink, water goes down a drain randomly - left, right and straight down - no matter where it is in the world. In order for the Coriolis Effect to be seen in draining water, a VERY large amount of water has to SLOWLY drain over a LONG time.\n\nhttp://stratus.ssec.wisc.edu/courses/gg101/coriolis/coriolis.html
282820
For the most part, yes. Low pressure systems in the Northern Hemisphere spin counterclockwise and Highs spin clockwise. The reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere.
153548
All baseball stadiums were made with the home plate on the W side of the stadium.  Thus south was left from home and south was right from home.  If you're standing on the mound, your left are is towards the south.  Here's a link:\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southpaw\n\n"The generally accepted origins of the term is from baseball. Ballparks are often designed so that the batter is facing east to avoid the afternoon or evening sun shining in his eyes. This means that left-handed pitchers are throwing from the south side. The first usage is credited to Finley Peter Dunne. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists a non-baseball citation for "south paw", meaning a punch with the left hand, as early as 1848[8], just three years after the first organized baseball game.\n\nIn boxing a left handed boxer is usually refered to as southpaw. They are often considered a more tricky opponent than the more common right-hander. The term is also used to refer to a stance in which the boxer places his right foot in front of his left."
145528
Types of Winds\n\n Trade Winds:  In both hemispheres, the winds that blow from 30 degrees latitude from the equator are called trade winds.  The Coriolis effect causes the trade winds to curve. \n\n The Doldrums and Horse Latitudes: Trade winds of Northern and  Southern Hemispheres meet in an area of low pressure around  the equator  called the doldrums.  Sinking air crates an area of high area called horse latitudes. Here the winds are weak.\n\n Westerlies:  Wind belts found in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres between 30 degrees and 60 degrees latitude. They flow toward the poles in opposite direction of the trade winds.\n\n Polar Easterlies: Wind belts that extend from the poles to 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres. They are formed from sinking, cold air moving from the poles toward 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south latitude.\n\n Jet  Streams: Narrow belts of high speed winds that blow in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.\n\n Local Winds: An area's geography for example a mountain or a shoreline sometimes produces temperature differences that cause local winds like land and sea breezes.
528253
You did meant to say "months" twice, right?  Because moths and months are slightly different things.\n\nAnyway, the difference is caused by how close the earth is to the sun (during its orbit around the sun.)  When the earth spins each day, it turns from day to night because the earth is facing the sun for half of the turn (roughly) and facing away for the other half (causing day and night.)  But depending on the orbit, the sun hits the earth differently.\n\nThe sun in fall and winter is more direct, I mean, like it hits you in the face.  It's, um, slanted differently.  But the light is weaker since the part of the earth that's having cold weather is tilted further from the sun.  Did I mention that the earth is tilted?  So that way, one hemisphere is tilted closer to the sun during one side of the orbit, and the other hemisphere gets the seasons during the opposite time of year (other side of the orbit.)  \n\nOK, like imagine that this percent mark % represents the northern and southern hemispheres.  Imagine that the % mark is traveling in a circle around a central sphere.  So on one side of the circle, the upper 0 is tilted toward the sun (spring and summer) and the lower 0 is on the other side of the tilted line and it's further from the sun.  But when the % gets to the other side of the circle, the *upper* 0 is on the far side of the tilted line and then the *lower* 0 is closer to the sun.  Which gives you seasons.\n\nI guess it gets lighter and darker faster because there's less clouds in fall and winter (it's colder, so there's less smog and haze and cloud cover in general) so dawn and dusk seem to happen faster.  Plus, there's less light and heat in general.  \n\nI hope that made sense.  The % thing makes sense to me, but if it doesn't, then make yourself a 3D model and see if it makes sense.
79033
no, it's because of the rotation of the earth.  Clocks in the southern hemisphere go around the other direction, like your toilet ;-).\n\nIt's because the shadow on a sun dial in England goes around that direction.
116604
The law you are referring to is the law of inertia, which is directly related to the laws of gravity.  The heat from the sun and it's gravitational pull are what "make the earth go round"
559330
This is a very common myth.\n\nWater spinning clockwise & counterclockwise has to do more w/ types of plumbing fixtures than it does the Coriolis Force. You can actually find instances in both hemispheres where it does not follow this mythical rule.\n\nThe Coriolis Force, quite simply put, is the deflection of moving objects to the right or left due to the rotation of the earth. Right in the N. Hemisphere & left in the Southern.\n\nLarge objects, such as missiles, are affected by the Coriolis Force so much so that the military must make adjustments when launching them at a target.\n\nSmaller objects, such as a baseball being thrown, is only slightly affected. The effects are so small that we do not notice them at all.\n\nSo to answer your question. No it is not affected at the equator. Not anymore so than it is affected in either of the hemispheres.
288033
Fronts are defined as the local areas of lowest pressure.  Air flows towards low pressure, so winds are northeasterly north of a warm front and more southerly to the south of it (in the typical northern hemisphere setup).\n\n---\nYou use the term veering (wind changing clockwise with time) like you are looking for a more indepth meteorological answer... but I'm not sure exactly what you are asking when you bring up the air mass and the jet stream.  If you have taken some meteorology classes and are having trouble relating some of the concepts, like Thermal Wind and Quasigeostrophic Theory, let me know by email, and I'll try to help you more.\n\nHope I helped,\nGod bless,\nShane