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From: "bettyjspace-1@yahoo.com" <bettyjspace-1@yahoo.com>
To: phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2009 11:29:26 AM
Subject: [Phys-l] NYT article: Centrifugal force
The following excerpt is taken from Tuesday's NYT, and the quote is attributed
to the associate director of the division of ocean and climate physics at the
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. Any thoughts with
respect to the use here of the centrifugal force?
Betty
The Earth’s Paunch
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
Q. I know the earth bulges at the equator. Does this include the oceans?
A. There is an oceanic bulge, said Arnold L. Gordon, associate director of the
division of ocean and climate physics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
of Columbia University.
“As the earth spins, a centrifugal force is directed outward, away from the axis
of rotation,” Dr. Gordon said. “This force is strongest for a particle at the
equator that has a longer path to follow around the earth’s axis each day,
despite its greater distance from the earth’s axis.” Meanwhile, he said,
gravity, as induced by the earth’s mass, is also acting on each particle. The
forces combine to produce what is called the observed gravity, which does not
point to the earth’s center, but is off center.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/30qna.html?ref=science
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