Pasco scientific used to make a "coriolis force demonstrator" in which a
windshield-washer pump sprayed a stream of water horizontally into a basin.
It was battery operated so you could walk or spin with it. If you walk with
it, the stream takes a curved path only when you are accelerating or
decelerating, just as you would expect. If you spin with it, with the
stream facing outward, the stream bends one way. If you reverse it, stream
facing inward, the stream bends the other way.
Spinning with this thing made me sick, but I couldn't restrain myself from
doing it once in a while because it was so cool. But now it turns out that
I can put it on a rotating table and aim a "vis-cam" at it and show the
class on a TV monitor, and I don't get dizzy. It's not quite as cool (not
as sensory) seeing it in TV as holding it in your hands, but at least I
don't get sick watching the TV.
This is not listed in Pasco's current catalog. I think there were lots of
problems with water leaking into the pump and corroding it. We've replaced
our pump three times already. But it's a pretty good demo.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817