Coriolis effect?

Question

Had to soak a big roasting pan for a few days to get the burned-on stuff loosened up.

When I went to wash it last night, I noticed that the globules of leftover fat were moving with the "current." The water was clearly swirling around the pan, very slowly, for no apparent reason.

It had obviously been doing it for some time, as a mass of globules had come together into in the center of the pan, and the mass was slowly rotating. The rest of the globules were arranged in a swirl pattern and were rotating with the central mass.

I let it sit for several more hours, thinking it would settle down, but it was still moving when I went back and dumped the pan.

Something was keeping the water swirling in that pan, evidently for 3 days. The pan was on the counter, next to the sink, off to the side of the kitchen window.

Have fun with this one, but some serious suggestions as to what was causing this phenomenon would be appreciated.

Sjouke Burry · Accepted Answer

I would suspect air currents coming either from a loosely fitted window/drafty attic/airco. Temperature differences causing moving air, things like that. Put one or two burning candles in various spots to check for air movement. A stick of burning incense gives off a nice swirl of smoke, useful as a testprobe.

The Daring Dufas · Answer

Congratulations sir, you have discovered "Fat Fusion" a potentiallyendless source of power that may save our country since we have anabundant supply of fat. ^_^TDD

dpb · Answer

...My supposition would be biological action from the beginning decomposition/molds/etc., perhaps in conjunction w/ some external inputs of air currents under-cabinet lighting, etc., as another respondent noted.--

Evan · Answer

Umm... yeah, did you rinse out the soapy residue from when you initially tried to clean the burned in gunk off ?

Could just be the chemical property of the surface tension of the water repelling the soaped globs of gunk...

~~ Evan

Michael B · Answer

When I was very young and gasoline was really cheap, my uncle was all caught up in a special additive that he had been convinced to buy by the case. It was supposed to really improve the gas mileage. My cousin and I would put a couple or three gallons of gas in his tank, and laugh at each other when he was telling about having such great gas mileage. We did this for about a month, and it was as though that old Ford was making it faster than it could use it.

It wasn't till after my uncle died that my aunt let it slip that he had known what we were doing, and was telling the stories about the great gas mileage just for us, when we were around. Damn, he got us good.

The Daring Dufas · Answer

Revenge from beyond the grave. (Twilight Zone Music) ^_^TDD

Bob-tx · Answer

I read a similar story about a guy who bought an efficient car and bragged about the mileage. His friends put in extra gas and he was unreal mileage, like 60 MPG.

Then they started taking gas out and his mileage dropped to far below the advertised rate. The guy took his car to the dealer saying he was getting 60 MPG and all at once it dropped to less than 20 MPG. Don't know if the story was true, but was funny. Bob-tx

dadiOH · Answer

Not to mention free gas.  The old codger was sharp  :)

willshak · Answer

Michael B wrote the following:When I was young, I bought so many gas saving fluids and devices to stick in my 56 Ford, that every few hundred miles I had to drain the extra gas from my car else it would pour out of the filler tube. :-)

Coriolis effect?

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