Coriolis force

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/coriolis-force

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Coriolis force?Mathematically formulated by Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis in 1835
2. What is the magnitude dependency?Proportional to object's velocity, Earth's angular velocity, and the sine of latitude
3. Why does the Coriolis force make things turn left or right?The Earth spins from west to east, so places farther from the center move faster. When something moves toward the poles or equator, it keeps its old speed, so it looks like it veers to the right in the north and to the left in the south.
4. How does the Coriolis force affect storms?The force pushes air that moves from high to low pressure, causing it to spin. In the Northern Hemisphere it turns counter‑clockwise, and in the Southern Hemisphere clockwise, forming cyclones and anticyclones.

Inertial Frame of Reference: A coordinate system where Newton's laws of motion hold true without fictitious forces.
Angular Velocity: The rate at which an object rotates or revolves around an axis.
Cyclonic/Anticyclonic: Describing rotation in the direction of or opposite to the Earth's rotation, respectively.