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Coriolis Acceleration Calculator

Enter velocity and latitude to find the Coriolis acceleration.

How it is calculated

The tool evaluates a = 2 × Ω × v × sin(φ). v is the object's speed in m/s, φ is the latitude in degrees (-90 at the south pole to 90 at the north pole) and Ω is the angular velocity of the rotating body in rad/s. If the Ω box is left blank, Earth's value 7.2921 × 10⁻⁵ rad/s is used; for another planet, type its own Ω. Speed and Ω cannot be negative, and a latitude outside ±90° gives no result. The acceleration is shown in m/s² with six significant figures, and in the form 1.03126 × 10⁻⁵ m/s² when it is very small (below 0.0001) or very large (a million or more). In the southern hemisphere sin φ is negative, so the number is negative and the text says the path bends to the left; in the north it bends to the right; at the equator the answer is 0. The speed is treated as horizontal and only the sideways deflection of a freely moving object is modelled.

Worked example

An aircraft or projectile moves at v = 250 m/s at φ = 45° N with Earth's Ω. First 2 × 7.2921 × 10⁻⁵ = 1.45842 × 10⁻⁴ rad/s. Multiplying by 250 gives 0.0364605. sin 45° = 0.707107, so a = 0.0364605 × 0.707107 = 0.0257815 m/s². The tool adds "deflects to the right (N hemisphere)". For comparison, this is about 0.26% of the 9.81 m/s² of gravity.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Typing latitude in radians. The field is in degrees, so 0.79 is read as 0.79° and the result is far too small.
  • Forgetting the minus sign for the southern hemisphere. A southern latitude must be negative, otherwise the tool reports a rightward deflection instead of a leftward one.
  • Entering speed in km/h or knots. The field is m/s, so 900 km/h must be typed as 250.
  • Expecting a non-zero result at the equator. The acceleration there is exactly 0 because sin 0° = 0, however fast the object moves.
  • Treating the acceleration as the total sideways drift. It is a rate in m/s²; the actual displacement depends on how long the object travels.

About this calculator

An object moving across a rotating reference frame — like Earth's surface — experiences an apparent deflection that has nothing to do with any real force pushing it sideways; it's a consequence of the frame itself rotating underneath the object's path. Named after French engineer Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1835), the acceleration is given by a = 2·Ω·v·sin(φ), where Ω is the frame's angular velocity, v is the object's velocity, and φ is latitude.

For Earth, Ω = 7.2921 × 10⁻⁵ rad/s, and the sin(φ) term means the effect is zero at the equator and strongest at the poles — which is why hurricanes and cyclones rotate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, why ocean currents spiral (the Ekman spiral), and why long-range ballistics, artillery targeting and inertial navigation systems must all correct for it.

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  • Editorial team

    The tool gives acceleration, not drift, but over a short, steady run you can estimate the sideways displacement as half the acceleration times the time squared. At the preset 100 m/s and 45 degrees that is about 0.5 m after 10 seconds, and it grows with the square of time. It assumes the speed stays constant. If you type another planet's rotation rate into the Ω box, post the body and value you used so others can reuse it.

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