Yesterday I mentioned that if you were standing at the equator you’d be spinning around the earth at about 1600 km/h. You, personally, are probably moving slower than that. Perhaps much slower.
The further north (or south) you go in the world, the slower the rotation speed. If you were standing exactly at the true north pole, and you stayed there all day (wearing thick underwear I hope), you would get yourself turned around with the earth but you would not really go anywhere. Your speed would be zero km/h. If you walked ten meters away from the north pole, and stood there all day, you would spin around a path 62.8 meters long, moving at a speed of 0.03 km/h.
The closer you are to the equator, the fatter the earth gets, the further you have to travel to spin around once, and the faster you go. I’m in Calgary, on the same latitude as London, so in both cities we are spinning at about 1050 km/h. That’s 550 km/h slower than equatorial folk. Hold that thought.
If you were driving along the street in a car at 50 km/h, and saw your friend walking in the same direction on the sidewalk at 5 km/h, you might feel inclined to throw a hamburger to him. At the moment you pass him, you throw that hamburger straight at him, and not to brag, but you have perfect aim. The problem is inertia. You, your car, and that hamburger are all moving at 50 km/h, and during its flight the hamburger continues to move at 50 km/h, while the intended recipient is still walking at 5 km/h. End result: the hamburger lands in front of your sad hungry friend. Hold that thought.
People at the equator are “driving” at 1600 km/h. People in Calgary and London are “walking” at 1050 km/h. Superman is in Brazil, and he throws me a hamburger. (only Superman could) While in flight the hamburger continues to travel east at its original 1600 km/h speed and Calgary doesn’t keep up. End result: the hamburger lands further east than it was originally aiming for.
This is called the Coriolis effect. It’s what makes our weather patterns work the way they do. Wind moving north will curve to the right. Wind moving south will curve to the left. This is what causes hurricanes to spin, and what creates the the major circular ocean currents.
At this point some of you might be thinking about Australian toilets. The Coriolis effect is often cited as causing toilets in the north to drain counter-clockwise, while toilets in the southern hemisphere drain with a clockwise spin. The concept is true, but in a practical sense the Coriolis effect is only noticed over large distances. The spin of your toilet bowl will mostly be influenced by the more immediate effects like the angle at which the water is pumped in.
