Talk:Coriolis effect

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Contents 1 Simple explanation 2 Popular culture 3 Nicer wording 4 Draining bathtubs/toilets 5 Ditto on the Draining of Bathtubs and Sinks 6 This article has too many errors 7 Frisbee deflection? 8 Diagram looks wrong

[edit] Simple explanation

I really miss a simple explanation of how the Coriolis effect ACTS. There are all these kinds of equations and diagrams describing it, but not a single iota about why it is like it is.

[edit] Popular culture

This article really needs a "Coriolis effect in pop culture".I think most of the people know something about the consequenses of the coriolis effect from The Simpsons.

Do readers need to guess who Ascher Shapiro is and what exactly was the nature of his experiments? Whoever put this in, what were you thinking? 75.3.8.133 03:59, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

I put it in. I agree it's not good. Before it said something about how it was possible to observe the Coriolis effect in a laboratory tank "in theory". I wanted to make it clear that it is possible in practice, and has been done. I'll add more information. Rracecarr 09:21, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

I think it should have the Simpsons reference. It was the plot catylist behind an entire episode. Valley2city 20:12, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nicer wording

"the magnitude of the Coriolis effect changes with the latitude and the speed of the air (and water)."

Couldn't that reasonably be changed to say "the speed of the fluid?"

Search4Lancer 17:29, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Draining bathtubs/toilets

The Coriolis effect DO HAVE a clear influence on rotation of flushing bathtubs, toilets and mud volcanoes (and magmatic volcanoes as well). However, velocity of fluid, just as the article says, needs to be taken into account. This means that if mud is very fluid, the spiral line clockwise (Northern Hemisphere, of course) almost dissapears. A recent volcano in the Eastern region of Congo, in Africa (Nyamuragira Volcano, north of Lake Kivu), shows also de Coriolis effect, since the lava flow was not very fast (in this case), as it is possible to see in satellite images from Google Earth. This volcano has two diferent lava flows: the southern flow shows deviation towards left (we should remember it is in the Southern Hemisphere) being a proof of the Coriolis effect. However, the northern flow looks like not being affected by the Coriolis effect, maybe because of topography: most of this flow is by the eastern wall of the Rift Valley, which avoids deviation towards the left, at least, in part of it. --Fev 00:06, 3 August 2006 (UTC). Seen from the top, a mud volcano has a similar shape than the Iceland low pressure system showed in the article's first image. However, the movement of mud is clockwise (from top to the bottom around), since it is, actually, similar to a high pressure system. Just this fact is the proof that the Coriolis effect determines deviation of a straight line due to Earth's rotation: deviation is the same either in high pressure systems than in low pressure systems (towards the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. --Fev 01:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC). --Fev 03:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ditto on the Draining of Bathtubs and Sinks

One can easily see when travelling the greater the rate of spin when further north for sinks and bathtubes. There are even demonstrations with properly-modified upside down 2-liter bottles at the equator to estimate the equator's location to within 100 meters. The rate of spin is even noticeably different between Atlanta and Cincinnatti. It was quite a shock when i finally realized why the drains always caught my attention and seemed really strange when i visited Cincinnatti. At first i thought the bathtubs were just made different or something, but then a sink really jolted my attention and i figured it out. I've been in enough hotel rooms to know.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.186.158.98 (talk • contribs) 02:40, 18 November 2006.

The above is your personal interpretation of your observations - and therefore is not allowed in the article as it is original research, see WP:NOR. Removed OR from page. --Vsmith 03:33, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] This article has too many errors

• First error: It looks like we should underestimate popular opinion. Popular opinion is based in the fact that, no matters the size of any rotating system on the Earth's surface, ALWAYS deflects in the same way according to the hemisphere where the movement takes place. This is valid for small whirling winds or mud volcanoes, for bigger tornadoes, for even bigger cyclones. Why we don't have exceptions to this rule?. We should remember than popular opinion is based on experience and this, in turn, derivates from physics laws. --Fev 23:47, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
• Second error: The Coriolis effect works also in high pressure areas, as it can be seen in the anticyclone article. It also works deviating normal track of hurricanes towards the north and eastward later.
• Third error: The article says the value of the Coriolis parameter, does vary with latitude, and that is due to the Earth's shape. It is not the Earth's shape but its rotation from West to East which is responsible for the Coriolis effect.
• Fourth error: The Coriolis effect on Trade Winds (for example) does not stop at the Equator. When trade winds bring air masses near the low pressure belt around the equator they tend to climb up to a high altitude and deviate northwest first, then north and, finally, northeast. But people do not take into account that this movement of air masses from equator towards subtropical areas (opposite to Trade Winds) takes place at a high altitude and therefore, without clouds, a fact that makes keeping track of its movement less obvious. --Fev 00:27, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

• The winds go in the wrong direction on the picture of the Earth! They should be anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere, and clockwise in the southern! WolfKeeper 13:57, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Wolfkeeper, the diagram that you removed represents (very schematically), the concept of inertial oscillations. The circles on that diagram are unrealistically large, but the diagram does give correctly the (theoretical) direction of inertial oscillations in the atmosphere. Read more about inertial oscillations in this article by the meteorologist Anders Persson.

Anyway, the phenomenon of inertial oscillations (especially as recognized in oceanography) could use an article of its own. The diagram is correct but with not enough explanation, it is easily misunderstood --Cleonis | Talk 15:03, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Question??? When in a sauna and you throw some water on the rocks the heat reaches one side first and then rotates around the sauna. This is the coriolis force doing this isn't it?

[edit] Frisbee deflection?

I was just curious if the strange path a frisbee takes while landing is related to Coriolis forces?

Most likely, there is not any relationship. First, time flying a frisbee is not long enough. Second, frisbee takes different turning sides while landing according to the person throwing it: with left-handed persons, frisbee turns around the opposite way as right-hand players. And third, wind direction is a more important fact in frisbee playing. --Fev 20:24, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

The answer above relates to the Coriolis effect by the Earth's rotation. But what about the Coriolis effect caused by the rotation of the frisbee? It will drag some of the air under it into rotation, and there may be some effect. Any answers to that one? −Woodstone 19:29, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

There is no coriolis effect caused by the rotation of the frisbee. The coriolis force only occurs if you are standing in a rotating system (such as the earth) while imagining that you are in an inertial frame of reference (ignoring earth's rotation). Since you are acknowleging that the frisbee is rotating, it cannot give a Coriolis force. The effect on the frisbee is caused by asymetric aerodynamic drag, and gyroscopic precession. --PeR 07:58, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Diagram looks wrong

The picture of a ball rolling on a flat plate looks wrong. The transverse speed in the rotating frame of reference should be increasing with distance from the centre, but it seems to be moving in a semicircle.WolfKeeper 00:19, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

You mean this picture?

I believe the diagram is correct. The velocity is constant in the inertial frame, which should make the path in the rotating frame an Archimedean spiral. The first 90 degrees of this looks similar to a semicircle.

Initially the ball is in the center where the centrifugal force (as seen from the rotating frame) is zero, and only the Coriolis force is at play. As the ball moves further away from the center, the centrifugal force acting outwards will be counteracting the Coriolis force. --PeR 10:34, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not saying it's actually wrong, but the perspective view is unnecessary and makes it look like a semicircle.WolfKeeper 11:20, 26 November 2006 (UTC)