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What drives the Coriolis Effect????

There is an excellent article in the April 2003 issue of Science Teacher. It explains the Coriolis Effect in a very simple way. The article is called Ask the Experts. Just put Coriolis Effect in the search engine and it will come up.

Hi Alyssa, The Coriolis Effect is driven by the Earth's rotation. Objects travel in a straight line, but because of the Earth's rotation anything that is traveling tends to move slightly to the side in respect to the ground below it. For instance when you throw a baseball, the ball travels in a straight line, but because the Earth is rotating, path of the ball is sideways in respect to the ground under it (this is because the Earth is rotating away from the ball's straight path). In reality, you'd never really see the Coriolis Effect when you throw a baseball (the distance is too small), but we do see it's effect on wind and ocean currents. Hope that helps! Maureen

Maureen, that is a very simple explanation of the Coriolis Effect. My students would definitely get that! Thank you!