5. You are a fan of playing paintball and decide to test out your new high-power

Question

5. You are a fan of playing paintball and decide to test out your new high-powered paintball gun. You set up a target in the distance facing directly west of you (in the northern hemisphere). You aim for the center of the target, but notice that paintballs are shifted. Being the science student you are, you place the target toward the east and aim for the center of the target again. In this case, you notice the paintballs are offset in a different direction! In which directions are the paintballs offset in each case? Use your knowledge of physics to explain why this is so and why they are offset in the directions you have noted.

Explanation / Answer

This happens due to the Coriolis effects which affect the trajectory. the cause is the spinning of the earth. In the northern hemisphere, it goes right to the target (south direction) and when the target is in the east it goes right to the target (north direction). notice that the deflection is always right to the target.

The reason is the Coriolis effects, here which arises due to the spinning of the earth. So we are in a rotating frame and this appears like a real force which deflects the trajectory. so when we are facing west it goes right to the target and appears going to the south and when the target is in the east it deflects to the right it appears to go north.

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