Candidate Number: 75813

The Coriolis force

Abstract
In this essay I will be talking about the Coriolis Force, which in turn leads me to the Coriolis Effect: the force which acts on an entity. In this text I will talk about the history of the force, the actual physics behind it and the application it has, because there is no point in talking about something in physics without applying it. I will also explore some of the mathematics behind it.

Introduction
The Coriolis force was put forward by Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792-1843) to produce an understanding of coordinate transformation. His main works before his seminal paper in which the Coriolis force was presented, feature the application of physics to mechanical devices in industry. In early papers the kinetic formula and its relation to mechanical work became fully established. He published papers which related kinetic energy to rotating systems. Coriolis published his famous paper Sur les quations du mouvement relatif des systmes de corps (On the equations of relative motion of a system of bodies) [1]. The paper was more influenced by industrial developments in the early nineteenth century [2] than any earth sciences or properties. Historically Coriolis was concerned about the mechanics of water wheels but was to turn his focus to rotating frames of reference. To make progress in this particular study, he had to answer and understand the question to find motion of any machine in which certain parts are moved in a given way [3].

Explanation
Despite seeming simple at first sight, the complexities of the Coriolis force soon become apparent. Considering the example of two stationary observers on a rotating circle (e.g. a merry-go-round) rotating counter clockwise, one of the observers (observer A) throws a ball along the ground of the circle. What will happen? Well the observer A (who throws the ball) will see the ball take a curved trajectory. Here, A observes the Coriolis Effect. However, from above the ball appears to be travel in a straight line. The Rossby number can explain how much influence the Coriolis force has on a situation. The Rossby number is normally used in describing fluid flow, and is the ratio of the velocity of a system with the Coriolis frequency and the length scale. This is shown in the equation below: U = the velocity of the system, L = length scale, f = the Coriolis parameter= 2sin where = rotation rate of earth (7.2921x10-5 rad/s)
1

Candidate Number: 75813

This provides an indication as to how strongly the Coriolis force influences a particular system. For example, a system with a small Rossby number signifies a system which is strongly affected by the Coriolis force and vice versa whereby a large Rossby number constitutes a system where inertial forces dominate. If we leave vectors out for the time being, the amplitude of the Coriolis acceleration of the object is proportional to the velocity of the object and also to the sine of the angle between the direction of movement of the object and the axis of rotation [4]. Now back to vectors maths,

There the Coriolis force is thus,

Where ac is the Coriolis acceleration of the system, is the angular velocity, of the particle in the system and is the Coriolis force.

is the velocity

The earth being a rotating sphere, this provides a fine example to start from. Let be the latitude (the angle from the equator to a point, we are going to take the point to be on the northern hemi-sphere). And, naturally, the earth is rotating around its (north-south) axis. The point we are looking at will have its own coordinate system, with x being east, y being due north and z as upwards (vertically) [5]. The rotation vector and velocity vector are expressed below, ( ) ( )

| (( (

| ) ) ( ) ( ))

However the Coriolis force is a horizontal force. Therefore vz = 0,

Candidate Number: 75813

( ),

when f = 2sin

Making vy = 0 and and positive, a movement in the x direction will cause an acceleration in the y direction. Equatorial motion (motion along the equator) provides another example: is zero and therefore is in the y-axis.[6] ( ) ( ) ( )

This shows us that an x movement (in the same direction as its rotation), provides an acceleration in the y-axis. This is known as the Etvs effect (which will be returned to later). In the 1900s a German team from the Institute of Geodesy in Potsdam where recording measurements of gravity along moving boats along the equator. Etvs noticed that the readings were lower towards the east and higher towards the west. He put this down to the rotation of the earth.[7] A gravimeter is made up of a spring which suspends a weight. The suspended weight is meant to counteract the force of gravity. If the spring is made well, the force of gravity should be proportional to the additional stretch. These extra gravitational influences should therefore be easy to work out and detect. A suitable coordinate system in this case is provided by the inertial coordinate which is comoving with the earths centre of mass. Particles which are at rest, that are rotating with the earth, have centripetal acceleration with respect of the coordinate system. Then it is the difference which we are looking for, of the boat being stationary with respect to the earth, also having velocity respect to the earth. The following equations I will calculate are strictly in the x-axis direction:

The formula for any latitude is therefore[8]:

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The second part of the equation is the centripetal acceleration for the weight to follow the curvature of the earth. It is generally much smaller than the first term which describes the Etvs force.

Applications
One application of the Coriolis Effect can be examined in aeroplane travel, as pilots would need to consider this physical force in order to reach the correct destination. For example a plane travelling almost directly north (e.g. from London to Glasgow), unlike a car or any land-based vehicle, whilst travelling almost directly north would not reach their initially intended location since the path would be automatically distorted due to the rotations of the earth, which come into effect once a vehicle becomes airborne. So for the given example of a plane travelling from London to Glasgow, during the given journey time the earths surface would have rotated a certain degree in the anti-clockwise direction, and the aeroplanes destination thus would also have been shifted. The distance and velocity at which the plane is travelling determines the degree of impact of the Coriolis Effect; whilst the journey from London to Glasgow may only be minutely affected, a journey from, say, London to Sydney would be far more skewed, naturally due to more movement of the earths surface with the progression of time. Similarly travelling at a lower velocity results in more movement of the earth during air time, and thus essentially an even more obscure location would be arrived at by a plane travelling with nothing but the considerations of a land-based vehicle. In order for this not to happen, therefore, the pilot would have to fly the plane at an anti-clockwise curve to counteract the Coriolis effect, and even more so for long journeys or slower moving airborne vehicles.

Conclusion
In conclusion the Coriolis force was proposed by Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792-1843) and proposed trying to explain rotating water-wheels and explaining industrial links and machines. The force explains the effect, in other words, the gives rise to the effect, which is when the motion relative to the earth, appears to curve in a certain direction (west in the northern hemisphere, and east in the southern hemisphere). This is a very important aspect of meteorology where large bodies of air/ clouds travel long distances in the air across the earth, hence making the clouds seem to curl up together. The shape of a hurricane (northern hemisphere) or typhoon (southern hemisphere) appears to curl up onto itself; this result is caused by the relative motion of the storm clouds in conjunction with the earth. It is also important in aircraft flight as mentioned above, where the plane flies to a given country but must change its course due to the Coriolis Effect.

Candidate Number: 75813

Bibliography

[1]. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis [2]. www.aos.princeton.edu/WWWPUBLIC/gkv/history/Persson98.pdf [3]. Coriolis (1835). "Sur les quations du mouvement relatif des systmes de corps". [4]. Dugas, Ren and J. R. Maddox (1988). A History of Mechanics. Courier Dover Publications: p. 374. ISBN 0486656322 [5]. William Menke & Dallas Abbott (1990). Geophysical Theory. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231067925. [6]. David Morin (2008). Introduction to classical mechanics: with problems and solutions. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521876222. [7] & [8]. www.cleonis.nl/physics/phys256/eotvos.php