The Coriolis effect

26문장 0% 베트남어 번역 1명 참여 출처 : 칸아카데미
번역 0%

The Coriolis effect발음듣기

(pencil scribbling noise) (loud thunder) If you've every watched the news during a hurricane or wintertime nor'easter, you've probably noticed that big storms spin over time as they travel.발음듣기

In the Northern Hemisphere they spin counterclockwise.발음듣기

But if you were watching a storm in the Southern Hemisphere, you'd see it spinning clockwise.발음듣기

Why do storms spin in different directions depending on their location?발음듣기

And why do they spin in the first place?발음듣기

A storm's rotation is due to something called the coriolis effect, which is a phenomenon that causes fluids like water and air to curve as they travel across or above earth's surface.발음듣기

Here's the basic idea.발음듣기

Earth is constantly spinning around its axis from west to east.발음듣기

But because earth is a sphere and wider in the middle, points on the equator are actually spinning faster around the axis than points near the poles.발음듣기

So, imagine you were standing in Texas and had a magic paper airplane that could travel hundreds of miles.발음듣기

If you threw your airplane directly northward, you might think it would land straight north, maybe somewhere in Nebraska.발음듣기

But Texas is actually spinning around earth's axis faster than Nebraska is because it's closer to the equator.발음듣기

That means that the paper airplane is spinning faster as well, and when you throw it, that spinning momentum is conserved.발음듣기

So if you threw your paper airplane in a straight line toward the north, it would land somewhere to the right of Nebraska, maybe in Delaware.발음듣기

So, from your point of view in Texas, the plane would have taken a curved path to the right.발음듣기

The opposite would happen in the Southern Hemisphere.발음듣기

An object traveling from the equator to the south would get deflected to the left.발음듣기

So what does this have to do with hurricanes spinning?발음듣기

Well, at the center of every hurricane is an area of very low pressure.발음듣기

As a result, the high-pressure air surrounding the center or eye of a storm is constantly rushing to`ward the low-pressure void in the middle.발음듣기

But because of the coriolis effect, the air rushing toward the center is deflected off course.발음듣기

In the Northern Hemisphere, the volumes of air on all sides of the eye keep getting tugged slightly to the right.발음듣기

The air keeps trying to make its way to the middle, and keeps getting deflected, causing the entire system to spin in a counterclockwise direction.발음듣기

In the Southern Hemisphere, where the coriolis effect pulls air to the left, the opposite happens.발음듣기

Storms spin around the eye in a clockwise manner.발음듣기

Top