Experiences of teaching the Coriolis effect
Two decades of teaching the Coriolis effect are summarized. In contrast to the traditional approach, the deflection as observed on a rotating planet should not be treated as the consequence of one fictitious force, the Coriolis force, but instead as a combination of apparent and real forces. Teachers should show that the centrifugal force, mathematically and physically intrinsically coupled to the Coriolis force, has to be neutralized or balanced. Different levels of educational simplicity and complexity are suggested, having in common clarifications of some erroneous and misleading pseudo-explanations which has confused the teaching for generations. "The deflective force, arising from the influence of the Earth's rotation, does not seem to be understood by meteorologists and writers in physical geography." William Ferrel, American meteorologist, Nature 1871. P.35.