Splash-free urinals (2025)
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
New urinal designs nearly eliminate splashback by keeping impact angle below 30°.
Researchers developed urinal designs that suppress splashback by ensuring the urine stream impacts the surface at or below a critical 30° angle. Experiments validated that splash is reduced to 1.4% of a common commercial urinal. The designs were generated by solving differential equations for isogonal curves. The study estimates over 350,000 liters of urine splash onto U.S. restroom floors daily, driving high cleaning costs and hygiene issues. Two final designs are presented: "Cornucopia" (least splash) and "Nautilus" (recommended for practical cleaning and varied user heights).
What commenters are saying
Commenters largely found the topic interesting but raised practical concerns. Several noted that simply aiming directly at the drain or using existing splash-reducing mats already solves the problem. A key trade-off was pointed out: keeping the impact angle low requires a deeper urinal basin, taking up more wall space that businesses dislike. Others joked about the study being a future Ig Nobel prize winner and noted the University of Waterloo's involvement with nominative determinism humor. One commenter linked to the actual proposed designs, praising the paper while questioning the "Cornucopia" shape's cleanability.