Whirlpool

A whirlpool is a vortex or a point at which moves the water or any other liquid in a circular or spiral motion downward, can form a funnel-shaped depression in the center.

Causes

Of particular interest are the whirlpools that form in the upper reaches of the rivers due to the unevenness of the ground in connection with waterfalls and rapids. Your erosion effect is characterized by the formation of vortex holes or giant pots. On waters mouths into the sea eddies arise to salt water by interaction of freshwater, since salt water is heavier than fresh water. Furthermore, eddies through inflows and outflows under the water surface ( in deep water ) arise, for example, by suction pipes for cooling water (fresh water) of power plants.

Hazards

Strudel can be especially dangerous for swimmers and boats, but hardly for larger vessels. The circular or spiral motion of the water pulls the swimmer or the boat with it and put it on the ground. It is very hard to resist the swirling motion of a vortex. Therefore, there is a danger of drowning in it. For this reason, rates leading experts of the Bundeswehr, not to fight against the pull of the vortex, but with all his strength to swim toward the floor and the vortex to go underground, so to speak, because at the bottom of the suction effect is weakest.

Examples in nature

Vortex created in torrential currents, as they are rarely present not in the open sea and in narrow straits. Examples of vortex in nature are:

• Corryvreckan: called The dangerous whirlpool in the Strait of Corryvreckan, a spa tub of Corryvreckan, already numerous crews, people and animals lost their lives and is a tourist attraction and danger spot alike. It is located in the Scottish county of Argyll and Bute at the end of the Jurassic - Sund, between the island of Jura and Scarba. He is considered the second largest marine strudel in the world. He is regarded as the only impassable body of the British Isles for the shipping.

• Moskenesstraumen / Saltstraumen / Maelstrom: This large whirlpool system before the Norwegian Lofoten, which is often subsumed under the term " maelstrom " correct but consists of the Moskenesstraumen and the Salt trauma, is due to its flow speed of 27.8 kilometers per hour often considered the most dangerous flow of the world called. In fact, however, it represents a serious danger for small boats dar.

• Donauwelle: This formerly very strong vortex below Grein in Upper Austria on the north side of the island of Woerth has since 1866 lost by blasting its danger to shipping. Upriver is located in Regensburg Regensburg whirlpool below the Stone Bridge. It results from the narrow bridge passages.

• Whirlpool: Below the Niagara Falls in the Niagara River are located in an approximately 300 meters in diameter measured Felsausbuchtung the so-called whirlpool whirlpool. You have now been defused. By cable car you can drive on the round.

• Congo Swirl: The swirl of Congo is located in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Congo River. He is just downriver from Vivi.

• Naruto Whirlpools: The extremely strong Naruto Whirlpools in a strait in Japan have speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour.

• Old Sow: The Old Sow is a vortex between New Brunswick and Maine. He reached a top speed of 27.7 kilometers per hour.

• Charybdis: Charybdis from the Odyssey was allegedly in the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the Italian mainland.

Whirlpool in the bathtub

It is often claimed, the rotational behavior of a water vortex, for example, in a bathtub, is a consequence of the Coriolis force. If the drain is opened, the resulting vortex to move to the northern hemisphere, counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere according to clockwise, similar to what happens in the atmosphere in high and low pressure areas.

In fact, the Coriolis force plays only a minor role here. The whirlpool is influenced by many factors ( already existent currents, Einfüllweise, construction of runoff, surface of the bathtub, etc. ) which has a much greater influence on the direction of rotation than the Coriolis force, which is very small in the considered speeds.