Coriolis Effect on Rain particle

  • 3 Replies
  • 908 Views
*

fjr66

  • 123
Coriolis Effect on Rain particle
« on: July 06, 2019, 01:09:21 AM »
Why doesn't rain experience coriolis effect as it falling down to the earth. Eventhough it is come from altitude with higher linear velocity  than earth surface or athmosphere layer below from where it come (as the earth rotating). So rain must travel in a slightly deflected path to the earth surface.

*

Macarios

  • 2093
Re: Coriolis Effect on Rain particle
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2019, 01:54:34 AM »
Why doesn't rain experience coriolis effect as it falling down to the earth. Eventhough it is come from altitude with higher linear velocity  than earth surface or athmosphere layer below from where it come (as the earth rotating). So rain must travel in a slightly deflected path to the earth surface.

How do you know it doesn't?
But we can't measure it because wind is always "derailing" the raindrops in any general direction.
Even if you don't feel wind "down here", there is always some "up there". :)
I don't have to fight about anything.
These things are not about me.
When one points facts out, they speak for themselves.
The main goal in all that is simplicity.

*

rabinoz

  • 26528
  • Real Earth Believer
Re: Coriolis Effect on Rain particle
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2019, 02:36:31 AM »
Why doesn't rain experience coriolis effect as it falling down to the earth. Eventhough it is come from altitude with higher linear velocity  than earth surface or athmosphere layer below from where it come (as the earth rotating). So rain must travel in a slightly deflected path to the earth surface.
Macarios gives a nice short answer. Here's a longer one if you're interested.

The Coriolis effect does have a minute effect. The "sums" aren't trivial but this site works it out:
Quote
Noninertial Frames of Reference,  Example: Deflection of a Falling Object
If we drop an object from height h, the effect of the centrifugal force is already in the local value and local direction g.

The Coriolis force will cause a deflection from a vertical path as the object falls. Lets call the z direction the local upward vertical. We need to pick two directions perpendicular to that to form a coordinate system. We can choose the y direction be be north and then we must choose east to be in the x direction to have a right handed coordinate system.
For a downward velocity, the Coriolis acceleration is to the east,
<< I'll omit the working - too hard for me! >>
where xeast is the displacement, ω is the angular velocity of the earth and  λ is the latitude.

For a height of 100 meters, at 32 degrees latitude, the displacement is about 1.9 cm.
Note that the displacement increase as h3/2 and a raindrop might fall 1000 metres.
So ideally the raindrop might by deflected about 60 cm.

BUT air currents would deflect raindrops far more than that so for the Coriolis effect have an undetectable effect on raindrops.

Galileo and later experimenters tried to verify this. Galileo was understandably unsuccessful but later experimenters have some success in tall shot towers.

*

JackBlack

  • 21875
Re: Coriolis Effect on Rain particle
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2019, 04:23:54 AM »
Why doesn't rain experience coriolis effect as it falling down to the earth. Eventhough it is come from altitude with higher linear velocity  than earth surface or athmosphere layer below from where it come (as the earth rotating). So rain must travel in a slightly deflected path to the earth surface.
Have you done the calculation to determine what effect it would have?

Lets make a few assumptions to simplify. Earth rotates exactly once every 24 hours. The rain can fall from 10 km altitude, directly over the equator, (r=6378.1 km) and not be affected by the wind (so it starts falling straight "down" and the sideways velocity from the Coriolis effect isn't cancelled.
Well, at the equator, Earth with the surface travelling at a velocity of ~463.8 m/s.
To keep the cloud moving with Earth, it is going to have to travel at ~464.6 m/s.
This is a difference of only 0.73 m/s.

That means with a raindrop falling down, if it wasn't affected by the wind (which it is, as it is going at or near terminal velocity), it would have a
sideways velocity of 0.73 m/s.
As we are assuming it isn't being affected by wind, that would mean it doesn't reach terminal velocity and instead just keeps speeding up.
A fall of 10 km would give it a velocity of (assuming a downwards acceleration of ~9.78 m/s) of ~442 m/s.
This means it would fall at an angle of ~0.1 degrees, or nothing significant.

But rain never reaches that velocity as it has too large a surface area to volume ratio.
Assuming it is falling at 10 m/s, that puts it at an angle of 4 degrees from vertical. Not much, and the horizontal velocity would also be significantly reduced.

The smaller you make your raindrops, to slow their velocity, the more they would be affected by wind, and thus the less of that change in velocity would carry through.

Then you need to throw in wind as well. I have seen rain coming in almost sideways due to the wind.

You simply aren't going to be able to notice the insignificant Coriolis effect here.