ATOC 184 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Coriolis Force
11 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Air is free to move in any direction whereas a human will be in the same relative position to the earth: coriolis force only relevant when it was a velocity relative to the ground. Airplane must constantly correct for the rotation of the earth: counterclockwise spin = deflection to the right, clockwise spin = deflection to the left. If you observe from the top, the ball is going straight, but if you are on, if appears to be deflected: air movement of the earth"s surface can be deflected by its rotation: coriolis effect. If you are sitting at a single point in space and looking down the air looks like it"s going from high pressure to low: but to someone on the surface, it looks like it is curving/deflecting. If it starts to the south and moves to the north it appears to be accelerating to the east.
