Research Rotation Project

A quantitative demonstration of the Coriolis effect

Ignatius Tsong
Home Department - Physics
Areas of Study - Experimental Surface Physics
Office - PSB 249
Phone - 4809653563
E-mail - ig.tsong@asu.edu
Designation - Experimental

The influence of the Coriolis acceleration on moving objects in a rotating frame is generally well appreciated on a large length scale such as transcontinental airplane travel, the path of a hurricane, or tracking of a long-range ballistic missle. However, a satisfactory demonstration of this effect on a laboratory scale is hard to contrive due to the difficulty in isolating the Coriolis effect from other rotational effetcs. In this project, the student will construct ab intio a simple apparatus consisting of a rotating plane, a frictionless moving object, and a video camera to capture the trajectory of motion. The experimental trajectory is then compared with a trajectory derived from theory to confirm the Coriolis effect.