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warrenchu000
- 14
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In the northern hemisphere, they rotate counter-clockwise. In the southern hemisphere, they rotate clockwise. This is often attributed to the Coriolis effect, an apparent deflection of moving objects in a rotating frame of reference. While this is true for deflected artillery shells, it is NOT the reason for hurricane rotating COUNTER-CLOCKWISE. In fact, they should rotate CLOCKWISE in the same way artillery shells are deflected in the ABSENCE of the surrounding atmosphere. But it is the DIFFERENTIAL VELOCITIES of the surrounding atmosphere that CARRIES the hurricane winds in their direction, with the atmosphere moving FASTER nearer to the equator and SLOWER nearer to the pole in the west to east direction.
So in the northern hemisphere, as winds blow toward the center of the hurricane, the wind is carried (west-to-east speed sped up) westward when traveling south and carried (west-to-east speed slowed down) eastward when traveling north.
If there was no surrounding atmosphere to carry the winds, the opposite would happen. The hurricane would appear to rotate CLOCKWISE as a result of viewing it in a non-inertial frame and of the pseudo force known as the Coriolis force. Therefore it is incorrect to attribute the rotation of hurricanes to the Coriolis force.
So in the northern hemisphere, as winds blow toward the center of the hurricane, the wind is carried (west-to-east speed sped up) westward when traveling south and carried (west-to-east speed slowed down) eastward when traveling north.
If there was no surrounding atmosphere to carry the winds, the opposite would happen. The hurricane would appear to rotate CLOCKWISE as a result of viewing it in a non-inertial frame and of the pseudo force known as the Coriolis force. Therefore it is incorrect to attribute the rotation of hurricanes to the Coriolis force.
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