The Coriolis Effect, revisited

In an attempt to keep from losing information that I don't use everyday, I recently took a look back at the coriolis force.

Here are a few interesting points regarding the coriolis effect. Maybe it's review for you too!

1. It is caused by the rotation of the earth. It's debatable if it is an actual force- if you look at the path of objects from space, they in fact do take a straight path. It's only because we view the path of objects from a rotating position on the earth that we view the path as deflected. Often it is called the coriolis effect, rather than coriolis force.

2. It causes large-scale winds to turn to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This change is due to how the earth's rotation is viewed from the poles. At the North Pole, it appears that the earth is rotating counter clockwise. At the South Pole, it looks like the earth is rotating clockwise.

3. There is no coriolis deflection at the equator. This is the reason that hurricanes don't form within 5 degrees of the equator. There is not enough corolis force to start the rotation necessary for hurricane development.

4. It is maximum at the North and South Poles.

5. Without the coriolis effect, air would flow directly into a low pressure system and out of a high pressure system. There would be no counter-clockwise flow out of a Northern Hemisphere high pressure or clockwise flow into a low pressure system in the Northern Hemisphere.

6. Stronger winds are affected more than weaker winds.

7. Coriolis is negligible on small systems with rotation faster than the earth's rotation. So it is in fact a myth that a toilet or a drain rotates in opposite directions depending on if it is in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. This is simply too small of a scale for coriolis to affect.

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