Coriolis acceleration ($-2\mathbf{\Omega }\times \mathbf{v}$)

The Coriolis acceleration is the Coriolis force divided by the particle's mass:It is therefore independent of mass for a specified relative velocity and angular velocity. This is one contribution to the acceleration measured in a rotating reference frame. For a fixed common origin with an inertial frame and constant $\mathbf{\Omega }$, the full equation of motion in a rotating frame isAll vectors here are expressed in the rotating axes; ${\mathbf{F}}_{\mathrm{real}}$ is the sum of actual forces. An accelerating origin adds a translational apparent force, and time-dependent angular velocity also adds the Euler acceleration.

The factor two follows directly from the rotating-frame derivative formula. First ${\mathbf{v}}_{\mathrm{lab}}={\dot{\mathbf{r}}}_{\mathrm{rot}}+\mathbf{\Omega }\times \mathbf{r}$. Differentiate again in the inertial frame: differentiating ${\dot{\mathbf{r}}}_{\mathrm{rot}}$ contributes one $\mathbf{\Omega }\times {\dot{\mathbf{r}}}_{\mathrm{rot}}$, and differentiating $\mathbf{\Omega }\times \mathbf{r}$ contributes another. Move both terms to the rotating side of Newton's second law to obtain the minus sign and the factor two. The centrifugal acceleration comes from the remaining double cross product.

Consider a ball moving horizontally with no net horizontal force in the laboratory. Treat its horizontal motion as that of a free particle: ${\mathbf{r}}_{\mathrm{lab}}=(ut,0)$ with constant $u>0$. Axes rotating counterclockwise at constant angular velocity $\mathbf{\Omega }=\Omega {\mathbf{e}}_z$ about the launch point assign it the positionThis is an exact rotation matrix transformation, with the axes coinciding at $t=0$. Taking $u=0.25\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, $\Omega =0.8\mathrm{rad}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, and $0\le t\le 3\mathrm{s}$ gives the two views below. At $t=3\mathrm{s}$, the laboratory position is $(0.75,0)\mathrm{m}$, but the rotating position is approximately $(-0.5530,-0.5066)\mathrm{m}$. Both assign the same distance $0.75\mathrm{m}$ from the origin.

The entire rotating acceleration must include the centrifugal acceleration as well as the Coriolis acceleration. To see the balance explicitly, write $c=\cos \Omega t$ and $s=\sin \Omega t$. Direct differentiation givesThe two apparent contributions areAt launch $\mathbf{r}=0$, so only the Coriolis acceleration contributes to the initial bending. Later the centrifugal acceleration also contributes; the full curved trajectory cannot be explained by keeping only the Coriolis force. In particular, $|{\mathbf{v}}_{\mathrm{rot}}{|}^2=u^2(1+{\Omega }^2{t}^2)$ grows even though the Coriolis force does no work: the rotating-frame kinetic energy increase is supplied by work from the centrifugal force. The laboratory kinetic energy remains $m{u}^2/2$.

Use local east, north, and up unit vectors $({\mathbf{e}}_E,{\mathbf{e}}_N,{\mathbf{e}}_U)$, with ${\mathbf{e}}_E\times {\mathbf{e}}_N={\mathbf{e}}_U$. In a spherical-Earth approximation at geographical latitude $\phi$, the angular velocity has components $\mathbf{\Omega }=(0,\Omega \cos \phi ,\Omega \sin \phi )$. Expanding the cross product for relative velocity $(v_E,v_N,v_U)$ givesThese are Coriolis acceleration components, not the total acceleration. For horizontal motion, the horizontal part is $(f{v}_N,-f{v}_E)$, where the Coriolis parameter is $f=2\Omega \sin \phi$. Thus northward motion in the northern hemisphere has an eastward Coriolis acceleration, to the right of its velocity; in the southern hemisphere the horizontal turning is to the left. At the equator $f=0$, but the full Coriolis acceleration need not vanish: vertical or eastward motion still couples through $\Omega \cos \phi$.

For a numerical example, take the Earth rotation rate $\Omega =7.292115\times 10^{-5}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, geographical latitude $\phi =45^{\circ }$, and an initially northward relative velocity ${\mathbf{v}}_{\mathrm{rot}}=20{\mathbf{e}}_N\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. Then

For a local, short-time estimate with no other horizontal force and zero initial eastward velocity, hold the initial northward velocity in the leading term: $\Delta x_E\simeq \frac{1}{2}fu{t}^2$. At $t=10\mathrm{s}$ this gives about $0.1031\mathrm{m}$ eastward. It assumes nearly fixed local axes and geographical latitude, negligible changes of height, and $|ft|\ll 1$. It is not a complete wind trajectory: pressure gradients, friction, and evolving velocity must enter an atmospheric equation of motion. The effective gravity in a rotating frame already combines ordinary gravity with the steady terrestrial centrifugal acceleration.

At first order in Earth's rotation, vertical velocity gives east acceleration $-2\Omega \cos \lambda \dot{z}$. A launch returning to its initial height lands westward, while a drop from the launch's maximum height lands eastward with one quarter the displacement magnitude. These results assume constant effective gravity, no air drag and no horizontal velocity in the Coriolis term. The northern component vanishes at this order.

At colatitude $\theta$, ignore terms quadratic in Earth angular speed and use uniform vertical gravity. A vertically launched particle has zeroth-order height $z=vt-g{t}^2/2$. Its eastward Coriolis acceleration is $-2\omega \sin \theta \dot{z}$, so its horizontal velocity is $-2\omega \sin \theta z$. Integrating over the flight time $2v/g$ gives the westward displacement displayed above. Descent reverses the horizontal acceleration but does not cancel the accumulated displacement.