what is the word for the spinning of the earth causes the wind to do what?

Answer 1

Coriolis effect ( wind storms rotate counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern )

Answer 2

Its called the Coriolis Effect, which is when the curving of moving objects from a straight path due to the earths rotation. You can also understand this effect if you placed a marble ( wind) on a lazy susan being turned. The marble would go the oppisite way of the lazy susan being turned.

Answer 3

Rotation of the Earth produces coriolis force which causes the winds to be deflected.

Answer 4

Excellent question. When you study the "equations of motion" on a rotating earth you will find there to be four components of the Coriolis force (or more properly Coriolis Acceleration since we use forces per unit mass). I will only given you two of these components. Due to the northward motion of the air there is an eastward component of the coriolis force given by 2 O v sin phi where O, Greek symbol is omega, is the angular rate of motion of the earth, v is the northward component of motion and phi is the latitude which you are considering. Due to the eastward motion of the air there is a northward component of the coriolis force given by -2O u sin phi, where u is the eastward component of motion and the other symbols remain the same. Since this component is negative it acts in the southward direction. The Coriolis forces involve only those components of the total motion measured relative to a rotating frame, which lie in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation (equatorial plane). They are directed to the right of these velocity components in an equatorial plane with magnitude = 2 Omega V where V is the part of the velocity which lies in an equatorial plane as I have shown above. Finally, because the Coriolis acceleration is always perpendicular to the velocity of the air it can never change the speed of a parcel of air, only its direction of motion. This is the reason it is sometimes referred to as as deflecting force. You can experience this if you have one of those rotating platforms on a school playground near you. If you stand on one side and a friend stands on the other and while the platform is rotating you try to toss a ball to your friend you will observe the Coriolis acceleration. The ball will curve to your right. Finally, to answer your question specifically. Because the sin phi term is positive in the northern hemisphere and negative in the southern hemisphere the Coriolis accelerations are in opposite directions in the two hemispheres. These Coriolis terms simply fall out in the mathematics when you work with the equations of motion, but can be explained by the rotation of a coordinate system on a sphere.

Answer 5

The carolius effect. Check out the book Weather, based on the BBC series. Very informative.