- A whirlpool is a swirling ring of water that can take several forms and be caused by several different factors, including fissures, tides and waves. Unlike many of the monstrous whirlpools seen in various action movies, most of them are not very powerful, and in fact you see them everyday every time water swirls down a sink or bathtub drain.
- A vortex whirlpool, or simply a vortex, refers to any type of whirlpool with a downdraft, with the water descending into a central point. These can be created swirling a spoon around in any glass of liquid, creating a relatively powerful little whirlpool. Not all whirlpools have vortexes, though, and in fact the majority of them do not.
- Whirlpools are created by water swirling in a relatively strong, circular current in a fixed area. They are most common in shallow straits near fast flowing water, and can often be found at the base of waterfalls. Occasionally, but rarely, fissures in the earth brought about by earthquakes can suck water down into the newly created gaps. This is the same method by which tiny whirlpools are created in any given sink.
- There are five popular locations in the world where natural whirlpools are abundant and draw tourists from around the globe. In Norway, the Saltstraumen has been known to reach speeds of 37 kilometers per hour. The Corryvreckan in Scotland reaches speeds up to 18 kilometers per hour; the Old Sow in Maine, of the United States, has a recorded speed of 27.6 kilometers per hour; the Naruto whirlpools in Japan have been recorded at 20 kilometers per hour. Off the Lofoten Islands in Norway, there is the Moskstraumen, which reaches speeds of around 27 kilometers per hour and is dubbed the original maelstrom.
- The power of whirlpools is often very over exaggerated, but with that said there are very rare occurrences where they can be powerful enough to cause damage to boats and even take human lives. These are maelstroms, and they often swirl at well over 20 kilometers per hour and have especially deep vortexes capable of dragging boats down. These whirlpools are the ones often depicted in popular culture, most notably Jules Verne's timeless novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," as well as more recent popular entertainments like Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies.
- Popularized by television shows like The Simpsons and The X-Files, the Coriolis Effect is essentially an effect created by the rotation of the Earth. In accordance with how the Earth rotates in relation to its poles, whirlpools created by draining will typically spin in a counterclockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere.
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