What’s the best design for splash-free urinal? Physics now has the answer
Enlarge / Can you spot the urinal design with the optimal splash-reducing angle? It's the one second from right. (credit: Mia Shi/University of Waterloo)
Scientists at the University of Waterloo have determined the optimal design for a splash-free urinal: a tall, slender porcelain structure with curves reminiscent of a nautilus shell, playfully dubbed the "Nauti-loo." That's good news for men tired of having urine splash onto their pants and shoes-and for the poor souls who have to regularly clean up all the splatter. Bonus: It's quite an aesthetically appealing design, giving this workhorse of the public restroom a touch of class.
The idea originated exactly where you think it did," Waterloo's Zhao Pan told New Scientist. I think most of us have been a little inattentive at our post and looked down to find we were wearing speckled pants. Nobody likes having pee everywhere, so why not just create a urinal where splatter is extremely unlikely?" His graduate student, Kaveeshan Thurairajah, presented the results of this research during last week's American Physical Society (APS) meeting on fluid dynamics in Indianapolis.
It's not the first time scientists have attempted to address this issue. Pan is a former graduate student of Tadd Truscott, a mechanical engineer who founded the so-called "Splash Lab" at Utah State University. In 2013, the Splash Lab (then at Brigham Young University) offered a few handy tips on how men could avoid staining their khaki pants with urine splashback while relieving themselves in restrooms. "Sitting on the toilet is the best technique, since there's less distance for the pee to cover on its journey to the bowl," I wrote previously at Gizmodo. "If you opt for the classic standing technique, the scientists advised standing as close to the urinal as possible, and trying to direct the stream at a downward angle toward the back of the urinal."