This scenario illuminates a common problem for golfers: A right-handed player in Florida has the correct club, stance, posture and swing. The ball is hit perfectly on the club’s sweet spot but still slices (veers off towards the right). That’s the Coriolis force causing slices for right-handers and hooks for left-handers in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite south of the equator.
Our Coriolis Correction woods and drivers utilize a GPS and an accelerometer to calculate the probable ball drift dependant on the hemisphere, latitude and speed during the swing, and then to angle the club face to cause the ball to veer towards the flag, every time.
Win a Foucault putter! Enter the lottery by helping us choose our company motto – What you hit is what you get – or – May the Force be absent from you.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 23 2004 good science http://www.geocitie...astard/coriolis.htmsee first table and text below [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] "Getting Around The Coriolis Force" http://www.physics....dom/Edu/newcor.htmlexplains why east/west movement is also affected [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Does anyone else keep misreading the title?-- AO, Mar 23 2004 aww, I thought a large group of us is going to get together and jump on one foot-- theircompetitor, Mar 23 2004 I've heard a lot of crazy golf superstition in my day, but this one wins most elaborate.
Bad day golfing lately, [FarmerJohn]? No amount of gizmo magic or misunderstanding of physics (i.e. coriolis effect) will make you a better golfer.
Sorry about that.
I'm going to throw in a coriolis corrected fishbone for this one.-- zigness, Mar 23 2004 I love it. And of course, I thought the title was going to be something about a group of science pedants devoted to the proper explanation of the effect...-- RayfordSteele, Mar 23 2004 That's some serious bad science, but I got a giggle from reading it, so (+)-- Freefall, Mar 23 2004 [zigness & Freefall] No I don't play golf, but I did do a bit of reading on the Coriolis effect/force. As well as with an artillery shell, there is a measurable effect on the trajectory of a golf ball, and I realize that the size* of correction makes this halfbaked humor, but not bad science. See first link.
* a rough calculation gave a deflection of 9 cm on a 150 m, 15 sec ball drive in Florida.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 23 2004 Wouldn't it be easier to design a golf course in which all the holes were laid out on an East-West axis? I've never played golf so it's not impossible that I don't know what I'm talking about here.-- hippo, Mar 24 2004 [Toadinnov & hippo] It is a common misconception, not being intuitive, that there is no Coriolis effect when travelling in an east or west direction. There is, and an explanation is in the second link. One would wonder why Foucault’s pendulum didn’t stop rotating when its swing came parallel to the equator.
There would be a slight deflection difference hitting a ball north or south, since different latitudes are involved, and a compass should be incorporated. Putting the function on the ball is interesting, but the actual velocity/distance calculation is lost and replaced by an estimate, and one would have to replace the horizontal axis spin (for greater height and distance) somehow with a vertical axis spin to achieve anti-slice.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 24 2004 I was really hoping for a big stick to use on people who think that toilets are affected by the Coriolis force. I'm very disappointed.-- ato_de, Mar 24 2004 Speaking of our old buddy Coriolis, I've heard from an executive with CSX Rail Systems that north and south railroad tracks will gradually stretch apart due to the lateral force applied due to Coriolis effect.
East-west tracks don't do this. Takes about 15 years to be noticed. I tried to calculate the lateral force once for a northbound train in Georgia traveling at about 65 miles per hour, but I ended up breaking into a sad, country song before I got done.
I'll switch to a croissant just out of nostalgia.-- zigness, Mar 24 2004 Stopped for drunk driving: "Shorry offisher.....ish the corry offolis effect, innit?"-- Ling, Mar 24 2004 "That’s the Coriolis force causing slices for right-handers and hooks for left-handers in the Northern Hemisphere and the opposite south of the equator."
No WONDER I always slice it! Even when I aim 45 degrees to the left, I still slice it over a fence on the right side. Wow! (I live in Florida.) Thanks!-- Nemmy, Dec 29 2004 Didn't our spin and axis just take a hit from the Indian Ocean quake? All those golfers going to have to retrain....-- normzone, Dec 29 2004 random, halfbakery