This is a page to present an animation of the Coriolis Effect, the apparent curvature of the path of a freely-moving object as it travels over a spherical surface like that of the Earth. The animation is click-driven: you have to click the "Next Slide" button to advance the animation. That's a primitive but effective way to let you watch a series of images in which you control the rate of advance (or reversal). The animation begins and ends with the opportunity to return to this page. See The animation!
There's also a non-animated one-page graphic explanation of the Coriolis Effect available as a PDF file
and another graphic presentation of the Coriolis Effect, this one as a jpeg.
For a more rigorous and quantitative treatment, Cleon Teunissen has suggested his pages on
Rotational-vibrational coupling
Oceanography and Meteorology: Inertial oscillation
Comparison of ballistics and inertial oscillations
and more generally
Rotation-related Newtonian physics: the Coriolis effect
Railsback's main page for GEOL 3030 - Elementary Oceanography
e-mail to Bruce Railsback (rlsbk@gly.uga.edu)
Railsback's main web page
UGA Geology Department web page
