Moonrise - awesome

Yes, it does - in the southern hemisphere. As the moon follows a northern trajectory you would be facing North when watching it. Therefore the East is to your right (South behind you).

In the northern hemisphere you would have to be facing South to see it rise. Therefore it appears from from your left.

It travels the same way but you have to be facing in the opposite direction.

 

Sorry to disillusion people about this. In theory, the Coriolis Effect proves that fluids and gasses move in different directions depending on which hemisphere you're in. Unfortunately, the CE is such a weak force that it had no discernible affect on a basin of water. Therefore it isn't true (It would take much too long to explain it in full).

Although the CE would have a discernible effect on a large body of water (an experiment done by Ascher Shapiro in the USA showed a minimal effect in a large body of water). So it has an effect on storms, wind patterns and ocean currents but not basins, or baths, of water.

The water going down the plughole is affected by the design of the sink, the motion of the water in the sink which is affected by the way the water runs from the tap into the basin and the type of plug you have. You would need to let the water settle for at least an hour if you wanted to experiment and then be able to remove the plug (old fahioned type) without disturbing the water.

If any of you have been to the equator there is a fairly good living made by people that live there showing tourist that water runs straight out of a bowl on the exact equator and runs different ways depending on which side of the equator they step. It's a great trick and their equivalent of our 'Find the Lady' or 'Sawing a woman in half'! I had a couple of friends in Kenya who made a comfortable living that way.

I think Stephen Fry on QI explained it more succinctly. He said "It's hogwash". Having said that, Stephen isn't always correct on that programme