6/7/2014 Coriolis

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Home My courses KXGM6105 24 March - 30 March Coriolis

In physics, the Coriolis effect is a deflection of moving objects w hen they are view ed in a
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rotating reference frame. In a reference frame w ith clockw ise rotation, the deflection is to the
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left of the motion of the object; in one w ith counter-clockw ise rotation, the deflection is to the
right. Although recognized previously by others, the mathematical expression for the Coriolis My home
force appeared in an 1835 paper by French scientist Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, in connection Site pages
w ith the theory of w ater w heels. Early in the 20th century, the term Coriolis force began to be
used in connection w ith meteorology. My profile
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New ton's law s of motion describe the motion of an object in a (non-accelerating) inertial frame
of reference. When New ton's law s are transformed to a uniformly rotating frame of reference, KXGX6101
the Coriolis and centrifugal forces appear. Both forces are proportional to the mass of the KXGM6105
object. The Coriolis force is proportional to the rotation rate and the centrifugal force is
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proportional to its square. The Coriolis force acts in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis
and to the velocity of the body in the rotating frame and is proportional to the object's speed in KXGM6310
the rotating frame. The centrifugal force acts outw ards in the radial direction and is proportional KXGM6308
to the distance of the body from the axis of the rotating frame. These additional forces are
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termed inertial forces, fictitious forces or pseudo forces.[1]
They allow the application of
New ton's law s to a rotating system. They are correction factors that do not exist in a non- Participants
accelerating or inertial reference frame. 24 March - 30 March
Of course, the most commonly encountered rotating reference frame is the Earth. The Coriolis Lecture 6
effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and the inertia of the mass experiencing the effect.
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Because the Earth completes only one rotation per day, the Coriolis force is quite small, and its
effects generally become noticeable only for motions occurring over large distances and long Solution 6
periods of time, such as large-scale movement of air in the atmosphere or w ater in the ocean. Coriolis
Such motions are constrained by the surface of the earth, so only the horizontal component of
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the Coriolis force is generally important. This force causes moving objects on the surface of the
Earth to be deflected in a clockw ise sense (w ith respect to the direction of travel) in the Brow se by category
Northern Hemisphere and in a counter-clockw ise sense in the Southern Hemisphere. Rather Brow se by date
than flow ing directly from areas of high pressure to low pressure, as they w ould in a non-
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rotating system, w inds and currents tend to flow to the right of this direction north of the
equator and to the left of this direction south of it. This effect is responsible for the rotation of KXGX6101
large cyclones (see Coriolis effects in meteorology).

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