An Interactive Computer Model for Coriolis Demonstrations
Lensyl D. Urbano, Jennifer L. Houghton · Journal of Geoscience Education · 2006
The coriolis effect can be a difficult concept for students to understand, particularly in large classes where the effectiveness of physical demonstrations is limited by visibility. We developed a fully interactive computer visualization aimed at introductory undergraduate and precollege students based on the physical demonstration of a marble rolling across a turntable. The marble's velocity, turntable angular velocity and direction, and friction between the marble and the surface can be controlled to allow significant instructional flexibility. Pre and post demonstration student surveys indicate that the application improved student understanding of the coriolis effect, and the use of this type of demonstration was favorably received by the students. This program is written in the free, open-source Python programming language, specifically with the VPython module, which makes three-dimensional, physically-based, real-time visualizations efficiently programmable for geoscience demonstrations by non-professional programmers.