Why does the stream of water coming out of a garden hose sometimes look “twisted”? David Feldman didn’t answer this one for me.
Because your holding the hose wrong. If you hold the hose perfectly straight the water will come out straight. 
You’re familiar with the concept of rifling in a gun barrel that causes the bullet to spin? If the material of the hose is twisted - cheap hoses usually are, the more expensive ones won’t be - the twist will channel the flow of water so that it emerges in that pattern. Go flush your toilet and watch how the direction the water is forced out of the hose in the rim and the shape of the bowl create the swirl that cleans the bowl so neatly . . .
sosumi
I guess that is why artillery shells (in drawings, at least) are shown spinning. And why when a football is thrown for a long pass, the ball spins.
Actually the good hoses are the ones that are twisted. The rifling effect that was mentioned is indeed true and for the same reasons that dougie mentions, distance and accuracy for the bullets and footballs holds true for water from hoses.
You see back in the days of ancient Rome, when water presure was not as good as it is today, the water came out of the hose very weakly. It was hardly good enough to put out fires or to pressure wash your siding. Well one of the lesser known Roman thinkers, Aristhrotle, decided that hose technology needed to be improved. So he began forming an idea about a spinning object and the distance it can travel. He knew that the best quarterbacks threw the ball with a spiral motion and his trusty rifle caused the bullet to spin. As he examined his rifle much more closely, he determined that the spirals in the barrel (later known as rifling) probably caused the spin and the accuracy. So he set about trying to create a water hose that was twisted. After manny years of failures, he finally developed the first twisty hose.
The fire fighters loved this new hose, there was greater accuracy, greater distance, and less recoil. All of these benefited the fireman greatly. Those wanting to water their lawns, pressure wash the house, or just annoy the neighbor loved these new hoses as well.
Well after the fall of the Roman empire, the twisty hose idea was lost. It was patented and stored in the Great library of Alexandria on the invention story floor, 57th I believe. But when the library burned down, no one in Alexandria had such a hose, the specs were lost. It was not until 1974 that an enterprising young woman, by the name of Aqua Marine, re-discovered the twisty hose and its many benefits.
Usually you have to shop at your better gardening centers to find one, though you can probably order one off of the net.
Jeffery
Doing my part to keep the public infirmed.
Do you mean that if twisty hoses had been available in ancient Egypt, the Alexandrian library might have been saved? What a tragedy - the plans for the one thing that could have saved it gone up in smoke!
sosumi
Yeah, isn’t it ironic that the plans that could have saved the library were not used and were subsequently lost until 1974 (not really found then, but rediscovered).
Jeffery
Are you sure it wasn’t Aqua Nette?
Actually, for close-in work, like roses, I prefer an unrifled, sawed-off shothose (w/paratrooper stock).
Sure, beatle, but for precision hosing you must have the rifled hose. It does the absolute best job with the most accuracy.
As for Zyada’s comment, no Aqua Nette was the unknown partner of the main (name on the patent) inventor Aqua Marine.
Jeffery
Every time I see this thread I think it says “Water in horses.”
Every time I see this thread I think it says “Water in horses.”
—pldennison
It does say…
Oh!
Sheesh.
Peace,
mangeorge
Work like you don’t need the money…
Love like you’ve never been hurt…
Dance like nobody’s watching! …Unknown
I’ve never seen this effect, and I don’t for a minute believe water inside a hose “twists” at all, let alone retains any of that motion once it’s left the nozzle.
If there were any centripetal force acting on that water, as would be necessary for the stream to twist, it would fly outwards into space once the constraining barrel of the hose was left behind.
Y’all are hallucinating or something.
I agree with Nickrz, I think. Once the water leaves the hose the only change in direction will be due to gravity or wind. Or splash.
Peace,
mangeorge
I can’t believe you’ve never seen this! I think a lot depends on the water pressure, but it does happen - the ‘twisting’ only lasts a few inches from the hose.
Go to your nearest rocky stream and watch how the water twists, folds, and otherwise arranges itself as it flows over and around rocks.
Just don’t get hypnotized and fall in like I do!
sosumi
I told you guys that you have to buy the hose at one of your finer gardening stores. They don’t sell these things at Wal-Mart.
Jeffery
I’m not quite sure, but I think we’re getting hosed, mg.
Yup.
mangeorge
Nick, MG, obviously you guys are all wet.
You have taken these ideas and twisted them, like the water out of a fine hose.
If you are going to spray this thread with watered down facts, then I suggest you be beaten with twisted water hoses.
Jeffery
Where’s Mr. Wizard when you need him!
Take one of those “Fun Straws”, cut it off at the end of the spiral, blow water through, and see if the water continues to spiral after it leaves the straw.
Life is fun.
Peace,
mangeorge