# Coriolis Effect Questions

1. Sep 15, 2008

### Concentrate

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

v = 0.05m/s (was told to estimate the velocity of water)

a)What is the acceleration "a" the water will feel, deflecting it to the right (if the sink is to the northern hemisphere)

b)Across the size of the sink, over what distance would the water be deflected to the right at this rate of acceleration?

2. Relevant equations

F= -2m(wv) = ma

where w is angular velocity (measured radians per second)

3. The attempt at a solution

For question a), I can do the problem if I estimate the w, which is angular velocity. This is because F= ma = -2m(wv).
The mass cancels out, so the equation becomes:
a = -2(wv)
What I'm not sure is if there is a sure answer for angular velocity, since the question only tells me to estimate the velocity of the water and didn't tell me to estimate the angular velocity. If there is an actual angular velocity, I would appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction.

For question b), I've never seen a question like this. I know the formula v2=2ad from physics 12, so I can plug in the velocity and acceleration from the previous question, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use this formula because we weren't taught it in class.

From the given formula that we had to work with (Coriolis force formula), I can't seem to find anything to do with distance.

2. Sep 16, 2008

### JoeyStorm

I would assume for angular velocity you use the spinning Earth's angular velocity since this is all about the Coriollis affect. For the second part maybe someone else can have some input on it, not sure what other formula you can use there.

3. Sep 16, 2008

### Concentrate

Thank you JoeyStorm. I was thinking that too, but I thought the angular velocity needed to be the speed in which the water rotated. I guess your way makes more sense then mine.