Coriolis and centrifugal force?

Question

I dont understand properly centrifugal and coriolis forces because I understand that they are fictional forces which come into play when looking at a non inertial system and the forces are not actually physical forces. So what is the force you experience pulling you outwards when you round a corner too fast in a car or you are on a roundabout etc??

Answer 1

The force that pulls you towards the side of your car when you go around a corner too fast is actually inertia. It's the same force that makes you fly forward when you hit the brakes too fast or sink into your seat when you lay on the gas. According to Newton (I believe it's his third law), "an object in motion tends to stay in motion and an object at rest tends to stay at rest." Well when you are in your car and you are moving in a straight line, your tendency is to keep moving in that straight line. When you take the turn too sharply, the car is turning but your body's natural tendency is to keep moving in that straight line, so you get pushed up against the side of the car. The same justification explains why you move forward or back when the car accelerates or decelerates too quickly.



Coriolis force is a completely different force that is caused by the rotation of a sphere and the fact that the sphere is densest in the middle, with decreasing density as you approach the poles. This change in density causes a force which makes moving things tend to move towards the equator of the sphere.

Answer 2

First you should clear your doubts about non-accelerated motion and accelerated motion. As you may be knowing that Velocity is a vector quantity, and for a body to be in accelerated motion it may be either speeding (e.g. when one is increasing the speed of a vehicle moving in a straight line) or changing its direction (e.g. a vehicle changing its direction and not speeding) or both.



And by Newton's First Law that states for a body to change its state of motion one needs an unbalanced force (Assuming you know the 1st law), for a body to accelerate in any of the case above it needs a force that will produce an acceleration.



When you go in a circle or change your direction a force is needed called The Centripetel Force (not Centrifugal - its a pseudo force when you station yourself on the non-inertial frame) which is provided by the frictional force of the road. And this Centripetel force is responsible or say is required to turn the vehicle. In absense of it the car will not make a turn.



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Answer 3

centrifugal force is, as you put it "fictional" in that what you feel pushing you against your seatbelt is the reaction to the centripetal force acting toward the center of the turning radius...coriolis force is really something different: ol' Gaspy Coriolis was trying to describe the physics of water-wheels, and ended up with howcum cyclones rotate one way in the northern hemisphere and the ther way in the southern...(This is often incorrectly used to explain why the water in your sink -- if you have one -- swirls in a particular direction.)...the real definition is something like "apparent deflection in a rotating frame of reference" and it's used a lot in meteorology...in earth-referenced inertial systems, it has to be accounted for, cuz when you move along a longitude line, your rotational velocity is changing...literally, New York city is moving slower than Miami...

Answer 4

KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!!



THE CORIOLIS EFFECT (NO FORCE) HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DENSITY. NORTHBOUND WIND FROM SOUTH OF A LOW PRESSURE CENTER IS BEING SWEPT ALONG WITH THE EARTH'S ROTATION TOWARD THE EAST FASTER THAN THE LOW PRESSURE CENTER, BECAUSE ALL OBJECTS NEARER THE EQUATOR MUST TRAVERSE THE 360 DEGREES AROUND THE EARTH AT 1000 MILES/HOUR (24,000 MILES/24 HOURS). OBJECTS NORTHWARD OF THE EQUATORIAL REGION WILL TRAVEL A SHORTER DISTANCE AROUND THE EARTH EVERY DAY, BECAUSE THE CIRCUMFERENCE (DISTANCE TO TRAVEL EACH DAY) IS SMALLER THE CLOSER YOU GET TO THE POLE. SO WIND MOVING NORTHWARD TOWARDS A LOW PRESSURE SINK WILL FIND ITSELF BEING SWEPT EASTWARD FASTER THAN THE L P SINK, AND AS SUCH WILL HAVE TO MAKE A GRADUAL LEFT TURN (WESTWARD) TO KEEP AIMING AT THE TARGET LOW PRESSURE CENTER. THIS LEFTWARD TURN CREATES A COUNTERCLOCKWISE CURL OR ROTATION.



SOUTHBOUND WIND TRYING TO REACH A LOW PRESSURE CENTER WILL START OFF BEING SWEPT EASTWARD MORE SLOWLY THAN THE L P CENTER (NORTHWARD OBJECTS TRAVEL A SMALLER CIRCUMFERENCE EACH DAY) AND WILL NEED TO MAKE A LEFT TURN (AS VIEWED FROM THE POLE) TO CATCH UP WITH THE FASTER TRAVELING L P CENTER. AGAIN THIS LEADS TO A COUNTERCLOCKWISE CURL OR ROTATION. AS WIND PRESSES AGAINST WIND, THE WHOLE BODY ROTATES COUNTERCLOCKWISE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, AS THE AIR MASSES ARE SUCKED INTO THE LOW PRESSURE CENTER (HURRICANE).



IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE THE SAME PHENOMENON LEADS TO A CLOCKWISE ROTATION, WHICH YOU CAN PROVE TO YOUR SELF, OR YOU CAN CONTACT MY HIGHSCHOOL FRESHMAN DAUGHTER AND SHE WILL BE GLAD TO EXPLAIN IT TO ALL YOU MENTALLY CHALLENGED BOYS. :-)



SHE ALSO UNDERSTANDS FAUCAULT'S PENDULUM, SO SUCK IT UP GUYS OR THE GIRLS WILL NEUTER YOU IN COLLEGE. THE GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN DOWN, AND YOUR HONOR IS ON THE LINE.



NOW CONCERNING THE TOILETS. YES, YOU CAN CONSTRUCT A TOILET THAT WILL CAUSE A COUNTERFLOW AGAINST THE CORIOLIS EFFECT. BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT THE ONLY CONSTANT PHYSICAL EFFECT THAT CAN BE EXPECTED WHEN WATER DRAINS OUT A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF A VESSEL, IS THE CORIOLIS EFFECT, AND THAT IS THE OBJECT IN TEACHING THE EXAMPLE OF DRAINING WATER. WE MUST HAVE STRUCT A NERVE IN THE PLUMBING BUSINESS THAT ANYONE WOULD FEEL THE NEED TO CLARIFY THAT THEY CAN MAKE THE WATER ROTATE WHICHEVER WAY THEY WANT TO. :-) PEACE!

Answer 5

that's gravity -