what is coriolis force?

Answer 1

Coriolis effect (kôr'ē-ō'lĭs) [for G.-G. de Coriolis, a French mathematician], tendency for any moving body on or above the earth's surface, e.g., an ocean current or an artillery round, to drift sideways from its course because of the earth's rotation. In the Northern Hemisphere the deflection is to the right of the motion; in the Southern Hemisphere it is to the left. The Coriolis deflection of a body moving toward the north or south results from the fact that the earth's surface is rotating eastward at greater speed near the equator than near the poles, since a point on the equator traces out a larger circle per day than a point on another latitude nearer either pole. A body traveling toward the equator with the slower rotational speed of higher latitudes tends to fall behind or veer to the west relative to the more rapidly rotating earth below it at lower latitudes. Similarly, a body traveling toward either pole veers eastward because it retains the greater eastward rotational speed of the lower latitudes as it passes over the more slowly rotating earth closer to the pole. It is extremely important to account for the Coriolis effect when considering projectile trajectories, terrestrial wind systems, and ocean currents.
:P

Answer 2

Coriolis Force-an artifact of the earth's rotation

Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. This apparent deflection is called the "Coriolis force" and is a result of the earth's rotation.

As air moves from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the right by the Coriolis force. In the southern hemisphere, air moving from high to low pressure is deflected to the left by the Coriolis force.

The amount of deflection the air makes is directly related to both the speed at which the air is moving and its latitude. Therefore, slowly blowing winds will be deflected only a small amount, while stronger winds will be deflected more. Likewise, winds blowing closer to the poles will be deflected more than winds at the same speed closer to the equator. The Coriolis force is zero right at the equator.

This process is further demonstrated by the movie below-
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gl)/guides/mtr/fw/crls.rxml

Answer 3

The Coriolis effect is the apparent deflection of objects from a straight path if the objects are viewed from a rotating frame of reference. One of the most notable examples is the deflection of winds moving along the surface of the Earth to the right of the direction of travel in the Northern hemisphere and to the left of the direction of travel in the Southern hemisphere. This effect is caused by the rotation of the Earth and is responsible for the direction of the rotation of cyclones. As a consequence, winds around the center of a cyclone rotate counterclockwise on the northern hemisphere and clockwise on the southern hemisphere.

The Coriolis Force is a force appearing in the equation of motion in a rotating frame of reference and causes the Coriolis effect. Sometimes this force is called a fictitious force (or pseudo force), because it does not appear when the motion is expressed in an inertial frame of reference. However, regardless of the chosen frame of reference, the resulting motion is the same. In an inertial frame of reference, inertia is sufficient to explain all movement. In a rotating frame, the Coriolis and centrifugal forces are needed in the equation to correctly predict the motion.

Contrary to popular belief, the Coriolis effect is not a significant determining factor in the rotation of water in toilets or bathtubs (see the Draining bathtubs/toilets section below).

The effect is named after Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, a French scientist, who described it in 1835, though the mathematics appeared in the tidal equations of Laplace in 1778.

Answer 4

Due to the Earth's rotation, a force is created at the equator.This force deflects the trade winds coming from southern hemisphere towards right and those from Northern hemisphere towards left.This is also known as Ferrel's Law
In India, the south-east trade winds gather moisture from Indian ocean and get deflected by Coriolis force .They come as south-west monsoon which water over 90% of India.

Answer 5

This is a force of mass rotation. The force increases as a person moves from either pole toward the equator. There is a continual building of this force due to a continual increase of mass radius.

The forces meet at the equator with each moving in opposite directions. When they meet at the equatorial plane a shearing action is formed through the plasma in that area, and that shearing action through the equatorial plane causes an electrical field to form, and a magnetic field forms at right angles to the electric field.

The reason for this force moving in opposite directions through earth's mass as it does may be seen by dividing a Styrofoam sphere in half and marking the face of each with an arrow in the direction of mass movement. Then look at both halves of the divided Styrofoam sphere at the same time. You will notice that the arrows indicate direction of spin indicate movement in opposite directions. What this means, is that one hemisphere cannot directly take the place of the other, and in order for the two of them to have energy of rotation moving in the same direction relative to each other, one hemisphere must have the energy of rotation move opposite to the mass. That hemisphere is the southern one. In this hemisphere there is a 25' rise in mass at the equatorial region that is not found in the northern one. This is due to Resistance that the mass offers that of the energy of motion (rotation)

Answer 6

Here's a good writeup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect