The Coriolis effect is the apparent displacement of an object from its path due to rotation of the observation frame, caused by inertia. It is used in various scientific disciplines and affects objects differently depending on their position relative to the rotating body.
Most people, when asked about the Coriolis effect, would probably say that it has something to do with the direction in which water flows in the sink or toilet. The basic principle is related, as it involves rotation, but the truth is slightly different. The Coriolis effect works on a much larger scale.
Named for Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, the French scientist who described the effect in an 1835 paper, the Coriolis effect is commonly defined as the apparent displacement, or motion, of an object from its path due to rotation of the observation frame . In this case, the viewing frame is usually considered to be the Earth, although it can be any rotating body. The keyword to consider here is “apparent”. The Coriolis effect does not actually move an object, nor is the effect dependent on an external force. In its most basic form, the Coriolis effect can be said to be caused by inertia, or the tendency of an object to remain in the state of rest or motion in which it already is.
To get an idea of how the Coriolis effect works, imagine a butterfly on a beach ball. The butterfly is sitting somewhere near the top of the ball and decides to fly towards a small pollen grain stuck on the ball’s horizontal centerline, or the equator. If the ball doesn’t move, the butterfly will travel in a straight line towards the pollen. However, if the ball is spinning, the butterfly will fly towards the pollen in a straight line, but by the time it reaches where the pollen was, the spinning of the ball will have displaced it and the butterfly will appear to have taken a curved path. In reality, the butterfly’s path was straight, but an observer looking at the butterfly will see a curved path relative to the ball, which is spinning. This is the Coriolis effect in action.
The displacement of an object’s path caused by the Coriolis effect depends on the object’s position relative to the rotating body. In the northern hemisphere of the Earth, the Coriolis effect shifts objects to the right. In the Southern Hemisphere, objects move to the left. Since these displacements are related to the rotation of the viewing frame relative to the object, i.e. the rotation of the Earth, differences in latitude or distance from the equator measured along an imaginary line at right angles to the equator can make a difference in the observed effect. This is because the Earth’s rotational speed changes depending on how far from the equator the measurement is made. The speed of the observed object also affects the observed displacement.
Numerous scientific disciplines make use of the Coriolis effect and its permutations. Meteorology, or the science of atmospheric observation and behavior, takes the Coriolis effect into account in the study of the formation and movement of hurricanes, while astrophysicists, or scientists who study the stars, see it in the study of sunspots and of other stellar phenomena. Navigators and gunners have to take this into account in their calculations, as do pilots. Any system that uses a rotating frame of reference will have to account for the Coriolis effect in one way or another.
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