this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
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"But it's going anticlockwise if you look at it from behind..."
If you mount a clock on the ceiling, which way do the hands go? What about their shadow on the floor?
Those are some really theoretical ways to observe a clock face.
How about we just start saying, "torque in, torque out"? When the torque vector points in, the screw goes in (tightening). When it points out, the screw comes out (loosening). As long as you are standing on the side of the screw you can actually work with while working with it (and why wouldn't you be?) this is never ambiguous.
Of course, now we're kicking the can down the road and relying on people wrapping their heads around the right hand rule... Hmm...
Doesn't have to be a clock. Which way does a ceiling fan spin?
I have lived in a home with a ceiling fan for nearly 30 years and I cannot confidently answer this question off the top of my head.
Maybe that's just tremendous skill issue on my part, but recognizing that all ceiling fans are standardized to spin only one way and knowing which way that is seems like a weird thing to ask of someone who also needs a mnemonic for which way to tighten screws.
That's not what I meant. If you have a ceiling fan in front of you, how would you describe its rotation? Would it rotate the same way as its shadow? Or opposite? Why?