• Random,  Science

    The Coriolis Effect and Confusion

    The Coriolis Effect is a fictitious force that seems to act on an object moving in a rotating frame of reference. For example, the Earth rotates, so something moving on Earth (on large distance scales) will seem to have a fictitious force acting on it. The Coriolis Effect does not dictate whether a toilet flushing or a bathtub draining does so with the water circulating clockwise or counterclockwise depending on which hemisphere you are in. That is dictated by the structure of the basin and how the water is moving as it is placed into the basin. Veritasium and SmarterEveryDay have a video explaining this, and then they experiment with…