The Real Coriolis Effect

If you throw a ball off a merry-go-round, it looks like its path curves the opposite way you're spinning. But from above, the ball goes straight. That's what we see here with the toy boat and pendulum.

This simple demonstration shows why the Coriolis Force is needed to reconcile physics seen in a rotating frame with that seen by an outside observer (aka inertial frame).

(note: A common misconception is that the Coriolis Effect causes water to drain clockwise or counter-clockwise depending if you're in the northern or southern hemisphere. It is easy to show that Coriolis Forces on that scale are much too small to have noticeable effects.)

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[dewalljp]

Neglecting the earth's rotation, the pendulum in the stationary frame (left) always swings in one direction in accordance to Newton's second law (F=ma).

But if you're standing on the ship, the pendulum (apparently) curves. F=ma does not account for the sideways "force" that makes the pendulum curve.

To reconcile this, an imaginary force (the coriolis force) was invented that is added to the forces in F=ma. Then the physics makes sense.

[eldominicanboy]

ok ok im only a 13-year-old boy who is insterested in physics andd had a little mistake...is that too bad for you??

[dewalljp]

sorry. it's great you're interested in physics! for a better explanation, search for coriolis effect on wikipedia. good luck

[pendulum2007]

wow

you know ur stuff man

and

you werent a complete jerk about it either

take it easy

[Eviktion]

shooter was a good movie, and yes, it was correct, since the earth is spinning it seems your shooting at a target straight ahead, since it cant hit the target it appears to fly to the right instead of straight, so a shooter must aim approximately 3 click to the right to take the coriolis effect into play as said in the movie, which had alot of realism elements in it, but was not 100% true. Something like that would never happen, but, yeah, the coriolis effect has a effect on bullets and travel..

[grayane]

The wind's gettin' a bit choppy. You can compensate for it, or you can wait it out, but he might leave before it dies down. It's your call. Remember what I've taught you. Keep in mind variable humidity and wind speed along the bullet's flight path. At this distance you'll also have to take the Coriolis Effect into account.

[w3ld3r]

LOOOLLLL notzaar

I found this video tryin to iunderstand why captain macMillan said that hahaha

and btw yeah it effetcs the bullet flight path since you can see the curv from the wind force on the smoke line but when it is about to hit it turns left and this is the coriolis effect!

[AmazinRace]

great work! excellent explanation!

[notzaar]

conclusion: the folks who made COD4 dont know shit (except how to make a nice fps) and were just trying to sound smart by using a math concept they barely understand.

[Eviktion]

you too man

[pendulum2007]

im sorry

did anyone see the movie shooter?

case closer

[dehgunny]

It does have an effect on the bullet, but unless you are at extremely long ranges (2000m +), it is negligible compared to other effects on the bullet, such as wind speed. The shot in CoD4 is only 800ish meters with a .50 cal, so i doubt any corrections aside from gravity and wind speed would really be needed. Furthermore, I don't think they even told you what latitude you were at or what bearing you were shooting at, so you couldn't correct for coriolis even if you knew how