A question about the Coriolis effect...

[PlutonianEmpire]

What exactly does it do? Does it bend air currents into curves? Or something else?

 

[Azadre]

What exactly does it do? Does it bend air currents into curves? Or something else?

IT'S NOT A FORCE!!!
ELECTROMAGNETIC IS A FORCE!!!

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Whoa! You're flaming already?

 

[Azadre]

Whoa! You're flaming already?

It's cost me points once...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect

 

[Keirador]

Its an effect, not a force. Kind of the difference between driving your car into a rhinocerous, and a rhinocerous erupting.

 

[Perfection]

Funny thing is the article talks about the "Coriolis force"

(Although it's only an inertial force, which in Newtonian dynamics isn't really a force, but the effects of a rotational reference frame)

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Okay, my next question:

Does a planet's rotational speed affect the Coriolis in any way?

 

[Perfection]

Force is fine, it's as much a force as the centrifugal force is

 

[Shaihulud]

Its an effect based on the rotation of the earth about it's axis. Northern hemisphere should have force directed anticlockwise to the rotation southern hemisphere clockwise.

 

[Perfection]

Does a planet's rotational speed affect the Coriolis in any way?

It does, in fact the rotational speed is the cause of the Coriolis effect.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

So, if a planet was tidally locked to its sun, like venus (sort of), then what?

 

[Perfection]

So, if a planet was tidally locked to its sun, like venus (sort of), then what?

Venus isn't tidally locked to the sun.

But if it were you would still see the effects.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

But would the effects would be weaker, somhow?

 

[Perfection]

But would the effects would be weaker, somhow?

The change would most likely be insignificant unless it was a very massive star with a close planet. The sun exerts little change on the coordinate system in spacetime.

Edit (this ignores the relativistic effects on the orbit which may negate the loss)

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

The change would most likely be insignificant unless it was a very massive star with a close planet. The sun exerts little change on the coordinate system in spacetime.

Edit (this ignores the relativistic effects on the orbit which may negate the loss)

So....

[rant]
For a retrograde spinning earthlike planet twice the size of earth orbiting a white-hot star that is 228 times bigger and 265,000 times brighter than our sun at a distance of a little over 400 astronomical units with a day of about 622.9 hours, would the coriolis effect still be about the same as on earth?
[/rant]

 

[Perfection]

No because the velocity at the surface would be different.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

How would it be different?

 

[Perfection]

Its day length is huge.

 

[Shaihulud]

For a retrograde spinning earthlike planet twice the size of earth orbiting a white-hot star that is 228 times bigger and 265,000 times brighter than our sun at a distance of a little over 400 astronomical units with a day of about 622.9 hours, would the coriolis effect still be about the same as on earth?

The coriolis force in this circumstances would be smaller as the rotational velocity would be smaller than Earth's as a day is determined by a complete rotation.