# Why don't shower curtains fly up anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490 "2010-07-04T05:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/1 "2010-07-04T05:01:57Z")
…even the ones that don’t have weights or magnets? Possible differences from the days of yore: - Low flow shower heads change the amount or type of air turbulence - Different materials for showe stalls/tubs affect the amount or type of turbulence - Same for the type of plastic in the shower curtain Or maybe something else. But it seems as a kid, this was a great and simple demonstration of the Bernoulli effect. But no more. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/2 "2010-07-04T05:09:52Z")
The Master says it’s [not the Bernoulli Effect](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/426/why-does-the-shower-curtain-blow-up-and-in-instead-of-down-and-out), anyway. Well, eventually he does, there’s a lot of waffling first. I’d guess it’s mostly your guess of lower-flow showers combined with stiffer/heavier curtains (plastic instead of cotton), but the trend toward larger showers can’t be helping, either. And this assumes that the noted effect is even real: I’m assuming you haven’t studied a large number of shower curtains either now or then, so it could just be sampling variance. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/3 "2010-07-04T06:20:04Z")
Global warming. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/4 "2010-07-04T06:23:23Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Global warming. well yeah of course, but what is the mechanism? No doubt the answer runs right through “Obama’s fault”, but how? ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/5 "2010-07-04T12:28:13Z")
All my shower curtains have built in magnets that hold it to the steel tub. Of course, I’m old school. You people must have fiberglass tubs. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/6 "2010-07-04T14:48:50Z")
Just the other day I was wondering the same thing myself. I suspect it is the decreased pressure that shower heads have these days. ---
**Author:** ![Moonshiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@Moonshiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshiner)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/7 "2010-07-04T15:09:38Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > Just the other day I was wondering the same thing myself. I suspect it is the decreased pressure that shower heads have these days. You mean decreased flow, not pressure. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/8 "2010-07-04T16:20:20Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > The Master says it’s [not the Bernoulli Effect](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/426/why-does-the-shower-curtain-blow-up-and-in-instead-of-down-and-out), anyway. Well, eventually he does, there’s a lot of waffling first. Waffling! WAFFLING! :mad: Actually sir, if you had looked a little more closely at that page you will find a link that shows that The Master has now, thanks to modern computer software, been able to give [a much more definitive account](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1369/why-does-the-shower-curtain-blow-in-despite-the-water-pushing-it-out-revisited). I am not sure quite what you mean by “fly up,” but last time I used a shower with a curtain, it still bulged inward. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/9 "2010-07-05T00:37:46Z")
Using an inner liner shower curtain with an outer curtain will help stop it from flying up, too. But I’m guessing the low-flow showerhead is the main reason. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/10 "2010-07-05T01:59:24Z")
I’m redoing the upstairs bathroom right now and showering in the downstairs bathroom. A simple shower stall, low-flow head, vinyl shower curtain (weighted at the bottom) and it flies all over the place. Come on over, stand in the shower, and the curtain will whip you to death. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/11 "2010-07-05T02:08:32Z")
I have never experienced this phenomenon. I’m intrigued. ---
**Author:** ![Dennis3240](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@Dennis3240](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dennis3240)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/12 "2010-07-05T04:30:36Z")
> [@Moonshiner](#): > > You mean decreased flow, not pressure. Wouldn’t decreased flow be a direct result of decreased pressure?? I’m not a hydrologist or physicist or anything, but wouldn’t the two be directly related?? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/13 "2010-07-05T16:07:03Z")
> [@Dennis3240](#): > > Wouldn’t decreased flow be a direct result of decreased pressure?? I’m not a hydrologist or physicist or anything, but wouldn’t the two be directly related?? IANA Scientist but I do know you can have lower flow and still keep the pressure high (e.g., use smaller or fewer holes in the shower head) or can have high flow and low pressure (take the shower head off entirely and just have water come out of the pipe.) ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/14 "2010-07-05T18:42:22Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > …The Master has now, thanks to modern computer software, been able to give a much more definitive account. **njtt** hits the motherlode! Prof Schmidt won the [Ig Nobel Prize](http://improbable.com/ig/winners/) for Physics in 2001 with his [pioneering paper](http://www.fluent.com/about/news/newsletters/01v10i2/a8.htm) on the propensity for shower curtains to stick to one’s butt. It’s a vortex thing, a bit like a continuous dust-devil, and thus far no-one has been able/bothered to disprove this theory, and so it currently stands as the definitive answer to the question of shower-curtain suckiness. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/15 "2010-07-06T01:37:43Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Using an inner liner shower curtain with an outer curtain will help stop it from flying up, too. But I’m guessing the low-flow showerhead is the main reason. And this is now considered standard. My mom freaked out when I used the plastic curtain by itself on our finally repaired shower. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/16 "2010-07-06T01:42:07Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Using an inner liner shower curtain with an outer curtain will help stop it from flying up, too. But I’m guessing the low-flow showerhead is the main reason. That is a potential factor in my current shower compared to my showers of yore too. Maybe I will do a test and report back… ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/17 "2010-07-06T17:43:04Z")
Am I missing something here? I always assumed the cause was circulation of warm air up and out of the space above the curtain and cooler air flowing in from floor level to replace it, pushing the bottom of the curtain inward. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/18 "2010-07-06T20:03:12Z")
While that is part of the equation, the fact that the curtain movement will occur with cold water shows that it’s not the dominant force behind the effect. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/19 "2010-07-07T00:01:55Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > Am I missing something here? I always assumed the cause was circulation of warm air up and out of the space above the curtain and cooler air flowing in from floor level to replace it, pushing the bottom of the curtain inward. This is it. I have a small shower in the bedroom and I have experimented with this. I can get in and let the shower run on cold for 5 minutes with no inward flow. Within seconds of turning it to hot I get lots of inward movement. Simple physics. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490/20 "2010-07-07T00:07:18Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > This is it. I have a small shower in the bedroom and I have experimented with this. I can get in and let the shower run on cold for 5 minutes with no inward flow. Within seconds of turning it to hot I get lots of inward movement. Simple physics. Are you suggesting something different than the second article linked here describes? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-shower-curtains-fly-up-anymore/545490.md?page=2)