What is the normal rotation of a fan?

Answer 1

Not all fans do that. Some are also reversible. Also the direction of turning is opposite if you observe from the opposite side.

A bit more:

On ceiling fans, they are made to be reversed for a reason, so the blades can either pull the air up or push it down. For example, on mine, with the way the blades are tilted, when it goes clockwise, it pulls the air up, pulling the warmer air upwards. When I flip the switch to reverse the direction to counter clockwise, the blades push the air downwards.

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For home ceiling fans, the air should be moving down in the summer time. In the winter time when the home heating unit is being used, the air should be drawn up to the ceiling. This causes a flow pattern that circulates up through the fan to the ceiling, across the ceiling and down the walls to the floor where it gets drawn back up to the ceiling. This rotational pattern draws the warm air from the ceiling and redistributes it to the floor where you can sense the warmth.

Answer 2

Fans rotate because that is the simplest way of making a device that moves air while standing still. So you can put a fan on the shelf, and it sits there, but it moves air around.

Answer 3

Generally, fans rotate in a clockwise direction; however, any fan can rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the polarity of the electricity powering the motor.