Were you ever told (or even taught) that water spirals down a drain in different directions in the northern and southern hemispheres due to the Coriolis effect? Weird how those things stick in your mind, isn’t it? Unfortunately that is not true. Water drains in both directions in each hemisphere.
In countries at the equator, there are sometimes showmen who demonstrate the ‘Coriolis effect’ on water draining down a plughole. They have three basins, one on the line and one on each side. They then ‘demonstrate’ that water drains in different directions on each side of the equator and straight down on the equator. They achieve this effect by pouring water on different places in the basin. For the ‘straight down’ water, they let it rest before pulling the plug. And they also fail to mention that they are usually not exactly at 0° latitude….
The Coriolis effect does influence weather patterns though. For example, instead of traveling in straight lines, wind is deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
I totally agree with you – I hate the number of hoaxes I see being shared on Facebook… I’m not perfect by any means, but I do generally try to check before sharing the scaremongering rubbish that is out there.