Coriolis effect

Coriolis effect

[kȯr·ē′ō·ləs i′fekt]

(mechanics)

Also known as Coriolis deflection.

The deflection relative to the earth's surface of any object moving above the earth, caused by the Coriolis force; an object moving horizontally is deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, to the left in the Southern.

The effect of the Coriolis force in any rotating system.

(physiology)

The physiological effects (nausea, vertigo, dizziness, and so on) felt by a person moving radially in a rotating system, as a rotating space station.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Coriolis effect

Displacement of the vertical caused by random acceleration.

i. The apparent effect of a number of forces that act upon a body or particle set in motion on the earth's surface, tending to divert the moving object to the right of its path in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. A correction must be made when navigation relative to the earth is considered. See Coriolis force.
ii. The change in rotor blade velocity to compensate for a change in the distance between the center of mass of the rotor blade and the axis of rotation of the blade as the blades flap in flight. Rotor blades accelerate when their center of gravity moves closer to the center of rotation and decelerate when it moves farther away. Rotor blades accelerate and decelerate accompanied with the rotor blades flapping.
iii. The displacement of the apparent horizon, as defined by the bubble in a sextant by acceleration, caused by an aircraft flying in a nonlinear path in space.
iv. The tendency of a mass to increase or decrease its angular velocity when its radius of rotation is changed. More correctly called the conservation of angular momentum.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved