coriolis effect demo.

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From: Kevin Kinsella (kkinsella@woodside.k12.ca.us)
Date: Thu May 06 2004 - 14:57:34 PDT 

From: "Kevin Kinsella" <kkinsella@woodside.k12.ca.us>
Subject: coriolis effect demo.
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 14:57:34 -0700
Message-ID: <002301c433b5$23790f50$8101a8c0@WOODSIDE9LCSZG>

Recently my class and I were reading about the Coriolis Effect. There was a
hypothetical analogy of firing a cannon ball from the North Pole toward the
Equator. The description went on to say that the cannon ball would appear to
not travel in a straight line due to the revolution of the Earth underneath
the flying projectile. This seems to make sense but, would the cannon ball
turn with the Earth due to inertia/momentum just as a ball thrown in the air
by a passenger on a moving vehicle would continue its forward motion even if
the vehicle stopped before the ball landed?

Would there be any 'forward motion' if fired from the actual N. pole?

I know this is potentially more complicated but is the cannon ball analogy
sound enough for helping to explain the Coriolis Effect?

P.S. I'm assuming that the flying cannon ball is analogous to 'flying' air
molecules that are not directly attached to terra firma.

Thanks for you input,

Kevin Kinsella
5th/6th Science Explorer
Woodside School

650.851.1571 x256

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