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apparent Coriolis acceleration [1 record]

Record 1 2001-08-15

English

Subject field(s)
  • Astrophysics and Cosmography
  • General Mechanics (Physics)
  • Navigation Instruments
CONT

There is one other indicator that the earth is rotating in space. The fact that low pressure regions spin with an anticlockwise motion in the Southern hemisphere, yet in the Northern hemisphere (the high pressure regions) spin with an anticlockwise motion and vice versa raises the question as to what force is being exerted on these winds. Studies of rotating bodies show there is an apparent Coriolis acceleration, which acts sideways on moving objects. Only a Coriolis type acceleration seems to explain the earth's winds and this could only occur if the earth rotates. The fact that the wind direction is always constant is evidence of the earth's consistent rotation.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Astrophysique et cosmographie
  • Mécanique générale (Physique)
  • Instruments de navigation
OBS

Coriolis (Gustave Gaspard). Ingénieur et mathématicien français [...]. Il a montré, en 1835, que l'expression de l'accélération d'un mobile dans un référentiel donné, en fonction de son accélération dans un second référentiel en rotation par rapport au premier, fait intervenir une accélération complémentaire (appelée aujourd'hui «accélération de Coriolis»), perpendiculaire à la vitesse du mobile dans le second référentiel. C'est ainsi que tous les corps en mouvement à la surface de la Terre sont soumis à une force déviatrice, produite par l'accélération complémentaire due à la rotation terrestre.

Key term(s)
  • accélération de Coriolis apparente

Spanish

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