bradley j. nartowt Wednesday, July 10, 2013, 09:24:02 PHYS 6246 classical mechanics Dr.

Whiting
A particle is thrown up vertically with initial speed v[0], reaches a maximum height, and falls back to the ground.
[I.1]
Show that the coriolis-deflection when it again reaches the ground is opposite in direction, and four times the magnitude,
than the coriolis deflection when it is dropped at rest from the same maximum height.
coordinate system [I.1], the e , earths angular velocity vector, breaks up into components as (cos sin ) z y e e u u = + .
initial velocity is in the z-direction. The motion, with forces ev and gravity, is,
(cos sin ) ( ) ( ) cos ( )sin
x y z
z y v x v y v z xy yx zx xz e e u u e u e u = + + + = + v [I.2]
Thus, each of the accelerations (mass drops out of all terms) are,
( ) ( )
1
, , ( , , ) ( ) sin cos , cos , sin
g
cor m
x y z x y z g z z y x x
e
e u u u u = = - + = r F [I.3]
The coriolis deflection occurs in the x direction. The coupled equations [I.3] immediately imply that x is,

2
( sin cos ) (( sin )sin ( cos ) cos ) sin x z y x g x x g e u u e e u u e u u e e u = = = [I.4]
the solution to this inhomogeneous equation [I.4]
2
sin x x g e e u + = , by variation of parameters, and the boundary
condition that
0 0,
(0) , (0)
x
x x x v = = 1 is,

0,
2
sin sin
1
0
( ) cos sin sin cos ( )sin
x
v
g g
x t A t B t gt x t t t
u u
e e e
e
e e u e e = + = + + [I.5]
Finding the y-component using x derivative from [I.5], and using
3 3
sin ( ) t t t e e e = + O ,

0,
2
sin sin 2
0 0, 0, 0
sin cos 2
0 0, 0 2
( sin ( ) cos ) cos (( sin ) cos sin ) cos sin cos
( ) ( sin ( sin ) cos ) cos
x
g g
x x
v
g g
y
y x t v t g v t x t g
y t x t t t V t Y
u u
e e
u u
e
e
e e e e u u e e e e u u u
e u e u
= + + = +
= + + +
[I.6]
Same initial conditions:
0 0,
(0) , (0)
x
y y y v = = yields
0, 0, 0
cos
y y
V v x e u = and
0,
2
0 0
( sin )cos
x
v
g
Y y
e
e
u u = + + ,

0, 0,
2 2
sin cos 2
0 0, 0 0 2
( ) ( sin ( sin )cos )cos ( cos ) ( sin )cos
x x
v v
g g g
y
y t x t t t v x t y
u u
e e
e e
e u e u e u u u = + + + + + [I.7]
Intermission: This has become ugly, and you may be wondering why I havent said t e is small yet. Well, we prefer not
to say anything is small until the very end (unless absolutely necessary). Despite appearances, things have not yet become

1
The x initial velocity will be important when we consider x-velocity already imparted to the particle by its up-trip vs. its down trip.
mathematically-intractablethings are just coupled because of the cross-product [I.2]. An elegant answer awaits, and one,
I argue, that is better than the simple ratio , because if all the motion is coupled by a cross product, shouldnt we be able
to conduct an experiment (at least in theory) to measure how high a particle flies based on its coriolis deflection?
hangtime: How long is the particle up in the air? The z-equation of motion is easily integrated. Approximate
2

3 3
sin ( ) t t t e e e = + O because
hangtime
earth's rotation
1
T
T
<< (implying 0
hang
t T e e < < is always small) and you get a very familiar result,

2 2 2
sin sin sin 3 3 2
1 1 1
0 0 2
( sin ) ( ( ( )) ) ( ) ( )
g g g
z t t g t t t g t t g g z t z v t gt
u u u
e e e e e
e e e = = + ~ = = + + O [I.8]
By [I.8], freshman kinematics apply, at least in the z-direction, so
0
0
/ 2
v
hang g
v v at t = = (half of the hangtime is the
time needed for the initial velocity to slow to zero by gravity). This is the amount of time the coriolis gets to act in the x-
direction.
Just dropping the thing: then, for the x-direction [I.5] you have the initial conditions
0 0,
(0) 0, (0) 0
x
x x x v = = = = ,
which means the deflection, R A , is
2 2 2 2
1 1
2 2
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
hang hang
x t y t x y t t + = + . Wed just plug in
hang
t as we found it
to be earlier into [I.5], so thats not very enlightening. However, well need this computation for reference,

( )
( )
2 1 2 2
2
2 2
sin 2
1 1
2
1 cos ( ) 2
sin 2
sin
( )sin ( (1 cos ) ) sin sin
1 cos
sin cos
g
t
g
g
R
g
u
et e
e e
et et
u
e
et et t u et et
u
e
u u t

| | | |
A = + = + | |
| |

\ . \ .
[I.9]
Up and then down: for the up trip, you have X A , the same
2
sin
( ) (sin )
g
x X
u
e
t et et = = A you computed from
earlier, and likewise for Y A to constitute the R A . But on the down-trip, youd have 1) an initial velocity in the x and y
direction,
sin sin sin
0,
( ) sin (sin 1)
g g g
x
v x
u u u
e e e
t et et = = = and
0,
( ) sin cos
y
v y g t u ut = =
3
, plus 2) an initial
deflection whose components are ( , ) X Y A A , the same as what we computed in [I.9]; your deflection is
2 2
R X Y ' ' ' A = A + A ,

( ) 2 2 2 2
sin sin sin sin sin sin 2
( sin )cos ( (sin 1))sin (sin )cos sin
g g g g g g
X
u t u u u u u
e e
e e e e
et et et et t et et et et et ' A = + + = + [I.10]

sin
2 2 2
2 2
2 2 2
(sin 1)
sin sin cos sin sin (sin 1) 2
2
sin cos sin sin sin cos cos sin cos sin
2
( sin ( ) cos ) cos ( sin cos cos ) ( ) cos
cos (sin )
g
g g g g
g g g g
Y X t g X Y
X Y
u
e
et
u u u u u et
e
e e e
u u et u et et u u ue t
e e e
et e u t u ut e u t u
u et et

' A = A + + A + A + +
= A + A +
( )
2 2
2
2
cos
sin cos 2 2
3
2
cos (sin ) sin sin cos
g
Y X Y
u ue t
e
u u
e
u et et et et et e t ' A = A + A +
[I.11]

( )
2
2
2 2
2 2 2 2 3
2
(sin ) cos (sin )
(sin ) cos
sin
sin sin cos cos sin
Y
g
R X Y
et et u et et
et et et
u
et et et e t u e et et
+ A
| |
| |
' ' ' A = A + A = + |
|
|
+ +
\ .
\ .
[I.12]
And now, the moment youve been waiting forthe part where we say things are small! We will expand the ratio
R
R
A
' A

from [I.9] and [I.12] in the small dimensionless parameter et --that is, the particle hasnt really spent much time up in the
air compared to the period of the earth,

2
Without the approximation,
2
sin 3 2
1 1 1
0 0 6 2
( ) ( sin )
g
z t t t gt v t z
u
e e
e = + + + , which is closed-form, but laborious to invert to
solve for a t
hang
the hangtime of the projectile.
3

0 0 0, 0,
0
x y
x y v v = = = = makes a lot of things go zero in [I.7], as is physically corrspondent to building up an initial velocity.

( )
( )
( )
( )
2 1
2
2 2 2 2 2 3 1
2 2
2
2
1 cos ( )
sin
2
(sin ) (1 cos ) sin sin cos 0
2
2 (sin ) cos sin
sin 1 cos
( )
! (sin ) cos
1 cos
sin
n n
n
n
R
C
R n
et et
et et
et et et e t et et et e t
et et et et et
et et u
et
et et et
u
et et

+ + =
+
+
A
= =
' A
| |
+
|
+
\ .

[I.13]
My good friend Maple computes the terms of this series. Despite appearances, its not hard to carry out this series to
fourth-order, and we see,
'sum(C[n]*(omega*tau)^n/n!,n=0..infinity)'=taylor(%,x=0,4);
[I.14]
From this series, we see that the Coriolis deflection only depends on co-latitude u as a third-order effect in x et = .
Now: making use of our [I.8] freshman kinematics, we can compute the distance thrown up wed need to get in order to
see a
1
4
R
R
A
' A
= --write
2
0
2
86400
2
6 6 3 9.81 /
0 4 4 2
[large]
s
v g
m s
g
x v
t
e
et e = = = = = = . Perhaps this is another one of Poole/Safkos
egregious errors
S
n = 0

C
n
w t ( )
n
n!
=
1
6
x
2
+ -
1
8

cos q ( )
2
+
1
6

x
3
+ O x
4
( )