Image:Taylor column rising ball.png
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Description:
An illustration of the phenomenon called Taylor column. In a rotating fluid a strongly buoyant ball (such as a pingpong ball) will rise to the surface only slowly. Fluid that is shifted from its position in the rotating system tends to be pushed back to the point it is shifted away from, the faster the rotation rate, the smaller the radius of the inertial circle. This corresponds to what is illustrated in the animation Image:Coriolis_effect07.gif
In a non-rotating fluid the fluid parts above the rising ball and closes in underneath it, offering relatively little resistance to the ball. In a rotating fluid the ball needs to push up a whole column of fluid above it, and it needs to drag a whole column of fluid along beneath it in order to rise to the surface.
A rotating fluid has a specific kind of rigidity, it does not quite act like a fluid anymore.
Author: Anders Persson
Permission: Personal email communicaton with Anders Persson. Permission is granted to upload under the terms of GFDL
