In honor of our love affair with toilets, here’s some great toilet trivia.
Here on the Squeaky Clean Blog we tend to spend a lot of time talking toilets. But, hey, why not? They are one household item just about everyone hates to clean, but at the same time we never want to use a dirty one – especially a public one.
So, in honor of our love affair with toilets, here’s some great toilet trivia.
U-shaped toilet seats vs. round toilet seats
Did you know the dirtiest part of the toilet seat is the front section? That little tidbit explains why you often see U-shaped toilets in a public restroom and round toilet seats in people’s homes. OK, that makes sense, but why, you ask, is the front section of the seat deemed the dirtiest? Blame the men.
Did you know the dirtiest part of the toilet seat is the front section? That little tidbit explains why you often see U-shaped toilets in a public restroom and round toilet seats in people’s homes. OK, that makes sense, but why, you ask, is the front section of the seat deemed the dirtiest? Blame the men.
According to StraightDope.com, men tend to well, shall we say, splash when using the restroom. And without their wives hollering at them to wipe off the toilet seat, the public restroom toilet seats would end up with plenty of splash residue, which is why there’s no front part of the seat.
Where to sit?
And while we’re on the subject of public restrooms, here’s a great tip: use the first stall in the bathroom because it’s typically the cleanest. Think about it: when you enter a restroom, you tend to walk down the line of stalls and pick one in the middle or at the end. Why? It’s perceived as being more private. That means fewer people are using the first stall, making it the cleanest choice.
And while we’re on the subject of public restrooms, here’s a great tip: use the first stall in the bathroom because it’s typically the cleanest. Think about it: when you enter a restroom, you tend to walk down the line of stalls and pick one in the middle or at the end. Why? It’s perceived as being more private. That means fewer people are using the first stall, making it the cleanest choice.
Taking aimWe’ll pick on the men just once more and offer some tips on aiming to avoid urinal splash. Back toStraightDope.com for a wise answer and the science behind the urinal:
“The rear wall of the typical urinal is parabolic in cross section when viewed from above, and the porcelain finish is conducive to laminar flow. The principles of fluid dynamics tell us that a fluid striking a smooth surface at an oblique angle will tend to flow along that surface. Assuming the source of the fluid is near the focal point of the parabola – and the modesty makes it unlikely he’ll stray too far – the fluid will run straight down the urinal wall with little or no splashing.”
Splash solutions include making urinals that are deeper and more concave. A good idea, but not near as entertaining as this one:
“Management at the international terminal of New York’s Kennedy airport specified that the image of a black fly be printed on the porcelain at the center of the back wall of every urinal. When given a target, it seems, men instinctively aim at it. The fly was originally introduced at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, where it supposedly reduced spillage by 80 percent.”
Have a toilet question? Post a comment and let us know what you think about toilets.
