Coriolis, Gaspard

1995/08/02 Azkune Mendia, Iñaki - Elhuyar Fundazioa | Kaltzada, Pili - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Biografiak

(1792-1843)

French engineer and mathematician born in Paris on May 21, 1792. There he studied and studied Engineering of Roads and Bridges. He was then assistant professor of the Polytechnic School from 1816 to 1838.

Coriolis first used the terms work and kinetic energy, endowing them with a modern physical meaning in his main book. He published his work in 1829 and entitled Mantua de I'effet des machines, "Calculating Machine Effects". In it he tried to give mechanical applications to theoretical principles.

Coriolis defined for the first time kinetic energy as half of the mass by the square of the speed. The work that is done in a body is the result of multiplying the force exercised by the distance traveled by that force overcoming the resistance.

Another of the works published in 1835 was Théorie mathématique des effets du jeu de billiard (Mathematical theory of the effects of Elvillar), but in the same year the publication Sur les équations du mouvement relatif des systèmes de corps, sent to the Journal of I'Ecole Politechnique.

In 1844 he published another book: Traité de la mécanique des corps solides (Treatise on mechanics of solid bodies).

However, Coriolis made his main work in 1835. He studied the surface in rotation with mathematical method and experimentation. The Earth, for example, gives a full lap in twenty-four hours, but the length of the path traveled by a point of the equator and a point of the pole is not the same. A point of Ecuador must travel 40,000 kilometers to the East all day at 1,600 kilometers per hour. However, a latitude point in New York has to travel 20,500 kilometers to the East and an approximate speed of 1,300 kilometers per hour.

The air at the height of the equator also has higher speed and when going north it maintains its maximum speed moving towards the east with respect to the dry lower surface, which moves more slowly. The same thing has happened to the ocean currents.

The forces that lead to the air and the water to the east are called forces of Coriolis and are those that cause turbulence, rods of hazelnuts and tornadoes.

The forces of Coriolis must also be taken into account in other areas: satellite shots, artillery boats, etc.

Coriolis died in his hometown, Paris, on September 19, 1843.