Mythbusters

[geoffbot]

I'm continually amazed at the stuff that people still believe, and the myths that are still perpetuated, considering our ability to immediately verify or quash them with the power of the internet in our hands 24x7. I believe basically nothing, and am immensely skeptical. But lots aren't. Example: many people that I know still believe that in the southern hemisphere the water flows down the plughole in the opposite direction to that of the northern. I've won a fair few quid from bets on this. This probably wasn't helped by a documentary aired on the BBC by a famous reporter (whose name escapes me now, annoyingly) having this very phenomenon 'proved' to him by a charlatan in a documentary about life on the equator. Actaully, water drains the direction that it is introduced into the bowl - so if you pour it back left of the plughole it'll drain clockwise, and back right counter, assuming the back is higher than the front.

Yesterday my mate told me that tapping a car window with your fingers just so can break it, due to resonance. I didn't know anything about the phenomenon and rubbished it immediately on the grounds of common sense; he, however, defended his position staunchly because he had heard it said by someone once. A quick google proved him entirely wrong, and me smug.

My wife believes that conkers deter spiders, despite no proof of this whatsoever, and that reflexology works. But I don't want to get into anything unprovable though; some things are subjective and some incidental: whether or not one believes that meditation 'works' is neither here nor there - sitting silently for 30 minutes and breathing deeply WILL relax you.

I'd just like people to use their brains and question things every now and then. Heard any others lately?

[OTGabe]

Geoff, surely you aren't saying that the Coriolis Effect is a myth? I agree that toilets are not a good example, but that doesn't mean it does not exist. Storms spinning in different directions depending on the hemisphere shows it much better. These fellows did a very clever synchronized video experiment that is worth a watch: http://www.smartereveryday.com/toiletswirl

[Nokie]

That dogs sweat through their tongues. They pant through their tongues to pass air to cool into the lungs, but the very few actual sweat glands dog have are located in their paw pads.

[whatmeworry]

What way does the water turn if you have the plug in when you fill the sink and then pull it out?

[Seriously]

My wife believes that conkers deter spiders

[geoffbot]

What way does the water turn if you have the plug in when you fill the sink and then pull it out?

Kinda random I think

[Seriously]

Geoff, surely you aren't saying that the Coriolis Effect is a myth? I agree that toilets are not a good example, but that doesn't mean it does not exist. Storms spinning in different directions depending on the hemisphere shows it much better. These fellows did a very clever synchronized video experiment that is worth a watch: http://www.smartereveryday.com/toiletswirl

There's a huge scale difference between toilet bowls and Cyclones.

Coriolis is still having an effect on the bog bowl swirl, but it's so small other things overwhelm it

[OTGabe]

What way does the water turn if you have the plug in when you fill the sink and then pull it out?

A sink is too small to see the Coriolis effect so you will get random results. What the guys in the video did was use identical 5 foot kiddie pools at let them sit overnight to ensure the water was completely still. They released the water via a valve underneath as to not disrupt the water at all. The end result was movement anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern. Of course toilets use directional jets to wash away the waste, so they will not show the effect, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.

[OTGabe]

I never knew what a conker was. If they are what I think they are, they stink badly, which I assume is how the myth got started? Do spiders even smell, though?

[Seriously]

Conkers don't stink ! **



(** That's not a myth by the way )