If you were on a ship sailing from Cape Town, South Africa, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, would the ship drift to the right or the left as it sailed?

Question

Danielle Eaton

Social Studies

7 January, 11:02

If you were on a ship sailing from Cape Town, South Africa, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, would the ship drift to the right or the left as it sailed?

+3

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Cesar Porter · Answer 1

The ship will drift towards left

Explanation:

It is caused due to the Coriolis effect. Coriolis effect is the term given to an imaginary force that deflects objects like rockets and storms that travels over the surface of the earth. It plays a major role in causing the swirling motion in storms and hurricanes. This effect is caused due to the rotation of the planets in the solar system. The apparent motion caused while tracking an object as it moves across the real surface of a rotating or non-rotating planet is known as the Coriolis effect. In deflection, the direction of the travel never matters, in the northern hemisphere the direction of travel is deflected to the right and in the southern hemisphere, the deflection is towards left.