Say we have a disk rotating at ω, and an observer standing at radius R. The observer throws something of mass m with radial velocity vr, and the goal is to make this object go in a straight path along the radius. The Coriolis force says that we must exert a horizontal force of 2mωvr - however, when I derive this myself, I get only mωvr, as follows.
From an outsider's perspective, if we want the object to stay in a straight line, as the object proceeds towards the center, its horizontal velocity must change according to its position on the disk, such that dv=ωdr. Thus the force on the object must be mdvdt=mωdrdt=mωvr. Where did I go wrong in my derivation?
No comments:
Post a Comment