Extradiscussion:

whatisCoriolisacceleration?
whatifitdidnotexist?
HirotakaSato
hirosato@ntu.edu.sg
1
Contents
Derivetheformulaforaccelerationofgeneralcurvilinearmotion (slides#34)
Contributionofeachtermintheaccelerationformula(slides#510)
ExperienceCoriolisaccelerationinlife(slide#11)
WecouldbeconfusedbyanotherwayofexplainingCoriolisacceleration(slide#12)
X
GaspardGustave Coriolis
position

r
j r i r r

sin

cos

velocity

e r e r r
dt
d
v
r

e r e r e r e r
v
dt
d
a
r r

2

2

acceleration
relative entrained Coriolis
r
e

P
X
Y
O
arbitrary
position
unitvector
paralleltoOP
unitvector
perpendiculartoOP
PositionVelocityAcceleration
2
If you want to derive the
acceleration, go to the next tow
slides. Otherwise, skip them.
3
DerivetheFormula
fortheAcceleration
4
=
=
=
=
=
5
P
1

P
2
Suppose the following situation;
The object P moves outward along the rod which rotates about O in counter clock
wise. And during a time interval, P moves from P
1
t oP
2
. The position P
1
is given by r
and
rod
O
6
P
1

P
2
The acceleration is given by the formula;
rod
O

e r e r e r e r a
r r

2

2

Letsthinkaboutthecontributionofeachterm.
P
1

If the acceleration consists of only the first term;

rod
O

e r e r e r e r a
r r

2

2

itmeanstheobjectPmovesjustalongtherodwhichdoesnotrotate.Insuchcase,Pmoves
tothepositionindicatedbyAinthefigure.Thepathisindicatedbythegreenline.Besides,
thissituation(linearmotion)canbeactuallygivenwhen isconstant( dotand doubledot
arezero)
A
Case 1
7
P
1

If the acceleration consists of only the second and third terms;

rod
O

e r e r e r e r a
r r

2

2

it means the object P relatively stops with respect to the rod which rotates about O (the
angular acceleration is double dot while the angular velocity is dot). In such case, P moves
to the position indicated by B in the figure. The path is indicated by the orange arc. Besides, this
situation (circular motion) can be actually given when r is constant (r dot and r double dot are
zero)
B
Case 2
8
P
1

The acceleration consists without the fourth term (Coriolis).

rod
O

e r e r e r e r a
r r

2

2

Inreality,thiscasedoesnothappen.Butjustsupposetohavesuchacase.Thefinalpositionthe
objectPreachesat(indicatedbyCinthefigure)shouldbeapproximatelygivenbythesumof
thepathsgiveninthecases1and2:PdoesnotreachesatP
2
. ThearcAC(orange)isshorter
thanthearcAP
2
.Thisshortage(arcCP
2
)isduetomissingtheCoriolisaccleration,whichis
alongeq direction
C
Case 3
A
P
2
ArcACiscontributedbythe2
nd
and
3
rd
terms.Thisarcisapproximately
sameasarcP
1
B.
Line P
1
A is contributed
by the 1
st
term.
B
9
P
1

rod
O

e r e r e r e r a
r r

2

2

C
A
P
2
B
This shortage (arc CP
2
)
is the contribution of
Coriolis acceleration.
10
11
We can experience Coriolis acceleration. Suppose you are on a large disc (ex. merrygo
round) which rotates in counter clock wise at constant angular velocity (see the figure
below), and initially you stand near the center (point A) and you face rightward. Then,
you jump outward (rightward) to the edge of disk (point B). You would feel the force
(friction force exerted by the disc surface) at your sole which is leftward (counter clock
wise) when you touch down at B. Knowing OA = r and OB = R (r < R), initially your speed
is r at A. Then when you touch down at B, your speed must become R so as to get
along with the disc. To accelerate you from rw to Rw, you would feel the force and it is
for Coriolis acceleration.
X
rotatingdisc(birdeyeview)
A B
jump
O
AwaytofeelCoriolisacceleration
12
WecouldbeconfusedbyanotherwayofexplainingCoriolis
We could be confused about the direction of Coriolis acceleration as there is another way to explain it
where the direction of Coriolis acceleration is opposite to the direction shown in the earlier slides. For
example, Ive just found a movie explaining Coriolis acceleration in Youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcPs_OdQOYU
In this movie, the observers stand on a large disk rotating in counter clock wise, and the observer near the
center throw a ball outward to another observer near the edge (see 0:38). The observers see the ball
curve rightward (clock wise) , in other words, the ball looks accelerated rightward (clock wise, which is
opposite to the direction of Coriolis acceleration shown in the earlier slides). What makes such a
difference? A point is that the ball in the movie is released from the rotating disk system once thrown away
from the observer. In reality, the ball in the movie is not accelerated by the disk, but because the ball is
observed in the coordinate attached on the observers and disk, the ball just looks accelerated. On the other
hand, the point P (slide 5) and the person (slide 11) are actually accelerated by the rod and disk,
respectively, and we observe the point P and the person in the absolute coordinate.