what is the direction of rotation of a ceiling fan ?

[shrikant]

& Why ?

[ChuckFickens]

Either way, depending on if you want it to blow air down or upwards.

[factor-fiction]

I'm sure ours went anti clockwise.
Can i ask what the context is of this question? Have you got one you want to fit?
Or is it a science/homework type question

[bibblebub]

Do they rotate the other way round in Australia?

[ChuckFickens]

I don't think the Coriolis effect effects ceiling fans :)

[factor-fiction]

Sadly, it seems that's an urban myth bibblebub (if you are alluding to water going down a plughole)

[bibblebub]

And the left hand rule doesn't become the right hand rule in Oz either?

[scotman]

Don't know. It is so long since I have been in a room with a ceiling fan. We very rarely need them in Scotland. For what it is worth my desk fan goes clockwise when you are facing the air stream.

[ChuckFickens]

The Coriolis effect isn't an urban myth as such, it is a genuine effect but it's force so small that other factors, such as the shape of the bowl and any existing movement in the fluid far outweigh the effect. in a perfectly round bowl with no other external forces and if the fluid was in a totally sealed environment and had been left to totally settle it would make a difference.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks chuck- it's good to know I wasn't under a misaprehension then for most of my life.

[Ratty2E]

They can go either way but it depends which way the blades are angled as to which way you want it to go. I.e. pushing air down or sucking it up.

[bazwillrun]

or which way the motor is wired

[ChuckFickens]

On a AC motor?

[rojash]

All our ceiling fans have summer/winter switches which reverse the direction of rotation (and hence the airflow). I've never quite got the hang of it, and couldn't say which is which.

[Wak]

Warm air rises therefore I would imagine that the winter switch makes the fan blow downwards so as to recirculate the warm air near the ceiling.
Just a thought!