Powerful lasers have brought to light a design flaw in toilets — when you flush them, water droplets from the inside fly out everywhere. Seriously, everywhere. A recent study used high-powered lasers to figure out just how high and far water sprays out of the toilet when you flush, illuminating them in a dark lab and capturing the results on video. While the larger water droplets didn’t make it too far from the bowl, the smaller aerosol versions can be seen going clear across the lab.
“I can tell you this has fundamentally changed my relationship with toilets. I look at them suspiciously now,” said study author John Crimaldi, an engineering professor at the University of Colorado. “I can sort of see in my mind's eye these aerosol clouds that are filling that whole room.”
