The EJS Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D model illustrates the trajectory of an object dropped from rest (relative to the rotating Earth) from above any point on Earth's surface. The user can set the initial latitude of the object, the height of the object above (or below) the Earth's surface, as well as the rotational speed of Earth. The motion of the object can be viewed from an inertial reference frame, or from a frame that rotates with the Earth (illustrating the effects of the so-called "Coriolis force" among other things). The simulation can be made to stop when the object hits Earth's surface, or it can allow the object to move through the Earth.
The user can select from a variety of options that control the gravitational and resistive forces acting on the object as it falls. The simulation can also generate plots of the object's longitude (initially assumed to be zero) and latitude as a function of time.
Please note that this resource requires
at least version 1.5 of Java (JRE).
Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D Source Code
The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the EJS Falling Body on Rotating Earth 3D Model. Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS. download 68kb .zip
Published: July 23, 2012
Rights: This material is released under the GNU General Public License Version 3.
previous versions
T. Timberlake, Computer Program FALLING BODY ON ROTATING EARTH 3D, Version 1.0 (2012), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047).
T. Timberlake, Computer Program FALLING BODY ON ROTATING EARTH 3D, Version 1.0 (2012), <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047>.
Timberlake, T. (2012). Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved March 24, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047
Timberlake, Todd. "Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D." Version 1.0. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047 (accessed 24 March 2025).
%A Todd Timberlake %T Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D %D July 23, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047 %O 1.0 %O application/java
%0 Computer Program %A Timberlake, Todd %D July 23, 2012 %T Falling Body On Rotating Earth 3D %7 1.0 %8 July 23, 2012 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12267&DocID=3047
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