If you begin a flight in Bogotá Colombia destined for Los Angeles, how will the flight path potentially be altered by the Coriolis effect? Explain the essential mechanism of the Coriolis effect in your answer.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: The Coriolis effect (named after GUSTAVE CORIOLIS, a French Mathematician of the 19th century) is a kind of deflection of an object in motion due to Coriolis force (a kind of inertial force) which results from the rotation of the earth. When an object starts is in motion in the northern hemisphere it gets deflected to the right of its straight path, and in the southern hemisphere, the deflection is towards the left of its straight path (It acts perpendicular to the object's axis of motion). This force is minimum at the equator and maximum at the poles. Due to this effect, wind/ocean currents swirl in counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Fast moving objects viz. airplane and rocket are largely influenced by this force therefore while charting flights for long distance the effect of Coriolis force must be taken into account.

Bogota Colombia (South America) and Los Angeles (North America), both are situated in the northern hemisphere. Bogota Colombia is near to equator and Los Angeles is situated further northwestern side of it (At the western side of North America). As flight will move towards Los Angeles from Bogota Colombia, it will get deflected towards right of its straight path