Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Coriolis effect puzzlement



A hurricane is a collection of thunderstorms. Loosely speaking, there is upward vertical motion wherever you see cloud in the spiral arms. The arms are spiral shaped because parcels and thunderstorms that join the larger structure are stretched by differential rotation. The rising air hits the tropopause and either spreads out radially or dives down into the eye of the hurricane (clear because air is descending). The part that moves radially outward is subject to the Coriolis force and turns to the right - but this time produces a clockwise rotation.

There is a beautiful time lapse movie of Hurricane Irene at

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/24/hurricane-irene-time-lapse-movie/

Notice the overall counter-clockwise flow of the storm, the eruption of new thunderstorms within the overall storm, and the thin layer of high altitude outflowing air that is moving clockwise. This is one of the best hurricane movies I have come across.

Bob at PC

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Bennett
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 2:50 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Coriolis effect puzzlement

Why has no one mentioned the vertical component of airflow?





On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 2:31 PM, Paul Nord <Paul.Nord@valpo.edu> wrote:

Bob,

Your confusion may be simply this: The pictures of the clouds are not
measurements of the motion. The shapes are formed because the wind
has been moving in particular patterns. The clouds will maintain
their shape in a still photo whether that photo is taken from the
ground, from a moving plane, or from the surface of the moon.

Paul

On Dec 1, 2011, at 12:55 PM, Bob Sciamanda wrote:

A puzzlement (or a dumb question) ===>

Why is the Coriolis effect observed in pictures taken from
airplanes? Is the airplane camera in a rotating frame?

I refer, for example, to Figure 12 of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect.

The cloud rotation does not seem to be merely "relative to the
ground" -
the
ground isn't even visible.
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l




--
Clarence Bennett
Oakland University
Dept. of Physics, (retired)
111 Hannah
Rochester MI 48309
248 370 3418
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l