[Yasser]

Yasser  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Dear Naked Scientists,
 
When a whirlpool has formed is it possible to disrupt and even halt it's movement by "injecting" into the surface of the water, or even near the "eye" of the whirlpool large volts of electricity? Salt water makes a pretty good conductor so in theory or practice could this work.
 
Note: In a realistic practical experiment one could possibly drop a chunk of heavy metal into the whirlpool and hope that it attracts a lightning bolt, which to some degree represents the intensity of the
voltage my question is based upon.

Best Regards,
Yasser Maniram

What do you think?

[DoctorBeaver]

I can't think of any reason why it should. Some of the water may get ionised or boiled, but I don't see that it would stop a whirlpool.

[Make it Lady]

Perhaps you could add large magnets. Would that help?

[DoctorBeaver]

You wouldn't need magnets. Anything large enough to disrupt the flow would work.

[lyner]

Where would the angular momentum go?

[DoctorBeaver]

Where would the angular momentum go?

You're the expert - you tell me. If you lower a big barrier across a whirlpool it would certainly disrupt it.

[lyner]

Oh yes - a physical barrier would 'connect' it to the Earth and the momentum would end up as a modified rotation of the planet.
My nonsense question was really about how a 'spark' with almost zero mass and not a lot of stiffness, could transfer / remove the momentum.
And, as water is not measurably magnetic, I don't see that magnets could help either.