Ok, this topic has been discussed before on the net, so I’ll just round up all the facts and sort it into the ultimate, absolute, final, definitive answer to this question…
The Facts:
1. The term that describes this phenomenon is called "Splashback." It is what happens when the male urine stream hits the back of the urinal and says “No way am I going in there, I’m stickin with you buddy!” and bounces deftly back to your pants leg, or shirt, or your hand, or whatever. (Don’t worry ladies; I’ll address you in a sec.)
2. Urinal makers such as American Standard do take this problem into consideration when designing what they call “fixtures.” I read an article in some paper once that there are tiny black flies printed in the lower center part of the urinals at New York’s Kennedy airport for the restroom patrons to “aim” at. My research led me to a Straight Dope (www.straigthdope.com) article that mentions the Kennedy airport and explains that the origin of this fly was in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam… who knew?
Basically the idea is that men are sloppy. And unless we have a target, we have bad aim... which I can’t argue with.
3. Never Aim at the bottom of the urinal. This includes the water and the urinal cake. This, by my logic, is a bad idea because this is generally the farthest place in the urinal from the origin of the urine. Which in turn means that the urine is at its top possible speed within the urinal? So, the combination of the distance, speed, and the abrupt near 90° angle that this target requires is great for the sprinkler effect.
So, in closing, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best place to aim is about 4-6” above the bottom of the urinal. This seems to direct and Splashback directly into the pool, cake, holes, whatever, while slowing the urine enough as to prevent splashup.
Now for the ladies, we have not forgotten you. If you would like to join into all of these wonderfully fun urinal experiments, we have found just the product for you.
-Dr. Rick
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