Stoner Science: Pooping on the Equator

[LordShaithis]

I have a buddy who's always getting high and then asking me the most bizzare questions. Some of them are easy enough to answer, others are unusual enough that I'd like some outside input.

Question 1: The direction the water of a flushing toilet moves is reversed when you go from the northern hemisphere to the southern. What would be seen if you placed a toilet directly on the equator itself and flushed?

Question 2: Suppose you dug a shaft directly down through the planet, and out the other side, and then jumped in. Assume that no excessive heat penetrates, and that air pressure magically has no effect, leaving gravity as the only important factor. My assumption is that you would first fall nearly out the other side, but not quite, and then begin rubber-banding back and forth, until your momentum is used up and you float at the center rather serenely.

Question 3: Suppose gravity were a hundred times stronger. Would a person floating in the middle remain unharmed thanks to gravity pulling from all directions and cancelling itself out? Would they become goo coating the inside walls of the shaft? Or would they become a sphere of pulverized tissue floating in the center? I favor the latter view.

[BlkbrryTheGreat]

Question 2: Suppose you dug a shaft directly down through the planet, and out the other side, and then jumped in. Assume that no excessive heat penetrates, and that air pressure magically has no effect, leaving gravity as the only important factor. My assumption is that you would first fall nearly out the other side, but not quite, and then begin rubber-banding back and forth, until your momentum is used up and you float at the center rather serenely.

Even if you didn't smack the sides of your pit on the way in or out you still wouldn't make it anyway where near to the other side of the planet on your way out- you need to factor in air resistance. Otherwise- yes you would just float in the center.

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[DPDarkPrimus]

Question 1: The direction the water of a flushing toilet moves is reversed when you go from the northern hemisphere to the southern. What would be seen if you placed a toilet directly on the equator itself and flushed?

That's bullshit. The water will move in whatever direction the toilet is designed to flush in. If it is designed to flush in a clockwise manner, it will do so, regardless of global location.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Question 3: Suppose gravity were a hundred times stronger. Would a person floating in the middle remain unharmed thanks to gravity pulling from all directions and cancelling itself out? Would they become goo coating the inside walls of the shaft? Or would they become a sphere of pulverized tissue floating in the center? I favor the latter view.

Ever heard of gees? That's when you experience gravity at more than normal. Did you know that enough gees kill? Question answered.


Talkabout a stoner, he doesn't know shit.

[Hardy]

Question 1: The direction the water of a flushing toilet moves is reversed when you go from the northern hemisphere to the southern. What would be seen if you placed a toilet directly on the equator itself and flushed?

That's a myth. The difference in velocities of the rotation of the earth at any latitude is too small to influence the direction of the direction of the swirl.

Question 2: Suppose you dug a shaft directly down through the planet, and out the other side, and then jumped in. Assume that no excessive heat penetrates, and that air pressure magically has no effect, leaving gravity as the only important factor. .

With no friction, you'd just oscillate endlessly, much like an orbit.

I'm not quite sure how to answer the third one.

[Hardy]

No, wait. For number three, if the gravity is at that level, you must be falling 100 times faster than normal. I don't know if you'd die by exploding, but I'm sure that going from 0-1000 m/s in a little more than a second would kill him.

[wolveraptor]

Question 1: The direction the water of a flushing toilet moves is reversed when you go from the northern hemisphere to the southern. What would be seen if you placed a toilet directly on the equator itself and flushed?

You know, I might be wrong, but I think a Simpson's episode involving the Great Down Under perpetrated that myth, attributing it to the coriolis effect.

[LordShaithis]

Assume that no excessive heat penetrates, and that air pressure magically has no effect, leaving gravity as the only important factor.

Even if you didn't smack the sides of your pit on the way in or out you still wouldn't make it anyway where near to the other side of the planet on your way out- you need to factor in air resistance. Otherwise- yes you would just float in the center.

No, wait. For number three, if the gravity is at that level, you must be falling 100 times faster than normal. I don't know if you'd die by exploding, but I'm sure that going from 0-1000 m/s in a little more than a second would kill him.

For #3, assume you simply materialize in the center. Yes, I assume the experience would be fatal. My question is which direction your pulpy remnants would go.

[LordShaithis]

Ok, quote tags borked above. Intended simply to highlight the fact that air wasn't supposed to be a factor in #1.

[HyperionX]

Question 3: Suppose gravity were a hundred times stronger. Would a person floating in the middle remain unharmed thanks to gravity pulling from all directions and cancelling itself out? Would they become goo coating the inside walls of the shaft? Or would they become a sphere of pulverized tissue floating in the center? I favor the latter view.

100 times is not nearly strong enough to tear you apart or cause you to squish yourself. Realistically, you'll just float forever unaway of the increase in gravity.

[LordShaithis]

The progenitor of these questions has two modifications:

Make it 1000 G's.

Also, replace the flushing toilet with water draining from a sink.

[Lord Zentei]

#1: Myth. For large systems like weather patterns, corriolis forces will do this, but not toilet bowls.

#2: If the hole is dug through the poles, then you are correct, you would oscillate like a pendulum, taking about 42 minuites to cross through the hole once. With no friction at all, you would always return to your starting point, oscillating endlessly. With friction, you would eventually settle down in the middle. If the hole is not through the poles, you would eventually bump into the sides of the hole due to the Earth's rotation.

#3 Inside a hole in the center of any spherical distribution of mass, the total g-force is zero. It matters not how strong the gravity is outside the hole, inside it the forces simply cancel.

[Lord Zentei]

The progenitor of these questions has two modifications:

Make it 1000 G's.

Make it a billion gees, the answer is the same as in my above post.

Also, replace the flushing toilet with water draining from a sink.

It is the size of the toilet bowl that mattes, not the source of the drain water. Toilets are simply too small for coriolis forces due to the Earth's rotation to have any appreciable effect. The same applies to sinks and bathtubs, etc.

[HyperionX]

Actually at a certain point the whole thing will collapse into a blackhole, including yourself if the G's are great enough.

[Lord Zentei]

Actually at a certain point the whole thing will collapse into a blackhole, including yourself if the G's are great enough.

No shit, Sherlock. The question was abstract, in case you hadn't noticed.

[Stofsk]

#1: Myth. For large systems like weather patterns, corriolis forces will do this, but not toilet bowls.

Another reason to hate that goddamn Simpsons episode about visiting Australia. I've been in this country for 22 years and I never saw a toilet bowl act in the way that was crucial for the joke to work. It actually took me arriving in New York and seeing your toilets to finally get the fucking joke. And even then it wasn't funny.

[salm]

You know, I might be wrong, but I think a Simpson's episode involving the Great Down Under perpetrated that myth, attributing it to the coriolis effect.

Naah, that´s an age old myth. Sad thing is, that even my geography teacher in high school thought that it was correct and actually taught it to us.

[Lord Zentei]

#1: Myth. For large systems like weather patterns, corriolis forces will do this, but not toilet bowls.

Another reason to hate that goddamn Simpsons episode about visiting Australia. I've been in this country for 22 years and I never saw a toilet bowl act in the way that was crucial for the joke to work. It actually took me arriving in New York and seeing your toilets to finally get the fucking joke. And even then it wasn't funny.

Never trust the Simpsons for science instruction. Or any other television, for that matter.

[Stofsk]

Oh I don't. Believe me. I just didn't get the joke because it's deliberately American-centric. (IE you would get it if you had toilets like Americans have, but ours are different. So the entire premise of the story just didn't make sense. Since i didn't know what Bart was fucking doing, I just decided he was being a little shit as usual. You yanks and your toilet humour. )

[Gandalf]

#1: Myth. For large systems like weather patterns, corriolis forces will do this, but not toilet bowls.

Another reason to hate that goddamn Simpsons episode about visiting Australia. I've been in this country for 22 years and I never saw a toilet bowl act in the way that was crucial for the joke to work. It actually took me arriving in New York and seeing your toilets to finally get the fucking joke. And even then it wasn't funny.

Never trust the Simpsons for science instruction. Or any other television, for that matter.

Or Yahoo Serious movies, I spent most of my childhood thinking Einstein was from Tasmania.

[Molyneux]

If the hole is not through the poles, you would eventually bump into the sides of the hole due to the Earth's rotation.

LOL...you'd be a human Foucalt pendulum!

[HemlockGrey]

Another reason to hate that goddamn Simpsons episode about visiting Australia. I've been in this country for 22 years and I never saw a toilet bowl act in the way that was crucial for the joke to work. It actually took me arriving in New York and seeing your toilets to finally get the fucking joke. And even then it wasn't funny.

Oh, come on. The bit where they rig up the anti-Corialis machine to the toliet and Homer begins to sing "America the Beautiful", teary-eyed, as it flushes, is priceless.

[wolveraptor]

You know, I might be wrong, but I think a Simpson's episode involving the Great Down Under perpetrated that myth, attributing it to the coriolis effect.

Naah, that´s an age old myth. Sad thing is, that even my geography teacher in high school thought that it was correct and actually taught it to us.

Er, I know it's a myth. I just said that the Simpsons episode spread it.

Personally, I'm disapointed that Lisa was wrong. It's not in character, damnit!!

[Wicked Pilot]

Ok, let's go through this...

Question 1: The direction the water of a flushing toilet moves is reversed when you go from the northern hemisphere to the southern. What would be seen if you placed a toilet directly on the equator itself and flushed?

Coriolis in almost all situation is simply not strong enough. The shape of the drane and internal currents play the deciding factor.

Question 2: Suppose you dug a shaft directly down through the planet, and out the other side, and then jumped in. Assume that no excessive heat penetrates, and that air pressure magically has no effect, leaving gravity as the only important factor. My assumption is that you would first fall nearly out the other side, but not quite, and then begin rubber-banding back and forth, until your momentum is used up and you float at the center rather serenely.

Assuming perfect earth symmetry and no air resistance you would pop out the other end just as far above ground as where you initially jumped. You would bounce back forever until some other force acted upon you. With air resistance you'd lose KE and eventually settle at the earth's core.

Question 3: Suppose gravity were a hundred times stronger. Would a person floating in the middle remain unharmed thanks to gravity pulling from all directions and cancelling itself out? Would they become goo coating the inside walls of the shaft? Or would they become a sphere of pulverized tissue floating in the center? I favor the latter view.

When you're inside a perfect shell the gravitational forces of that shell are zero. It doesn't matter if you're perfectly in the center, or near the wall, it will always be zero.

If you had a hollow sphere composed of solid iron, with a diameter of 1,000,000 miles, and a thickness of 1,000 miles, inside that sphere the gravity would always be zero. It wouldn't matter if you were directly in the center, or one meter from the wall, it's zero.

[Kuroneko]

[Question 1] That's a myth. The difference in velocities of the rotation of the earth at any latitude is too small to influence the direction of the direction of the swirl.

The direction of the swirl in toilets, where the water comes down rather forcefully, yes, but the myth does have some truth in it, since there really is a slight preference in rotation.

[Question 2] With no friction, you'd just oscillate endlessly, much like an orbit.

True, but the question asked to ignore the forces due to air only, in which case the conservation of angular momentum would have the person scrape against the shaft walls, excepting only the north-south pole configuration.

Question 3: Suppose gravity were a hundred times stronger. Would a person floating in the middle remain unharmed thanks to gravity pulling from all directions and cancelling itself out?

The mass distribution of the Earth is very close to spherical symmetry, so according to Newton's shell theorem, the person is the centre would not feel a thing. Neither will an oscillating person (in the manner of question two), for that matter, since freefall is locally inertial. No amount of gravity can damage the person unless there is some other force trying to prevent the freefall.

If you had a hollow sphere composed of solid iron, with a diameter of 1,000,000 miles, and a thickness of 1,000 miles, inside that sphere the gravity would always be zero. It wouldn't matter if you were directly in the center, or one meter from the wall, it's zero.

Well, yes, although such a structure might still be a problem for the person in it, because it will still collapse under its own gravity.