"Up" is relative. Looking at the earth, you're shooting outwards from the sphere (or really irregular elipsoid). By the time the bullet reaches its destination, the planet has turned, resulting in an offset.
The Coriolis effect is a "fictitious force", meaning it's not an actual inertial force, but is calculated as a force based on a frame of reference. In this case, the frame of reference doesn't include the earth's rotation - you can't see that happening, and yet even though the bullet went straight up, something caused it to come back down in a different location, a force, a fictitious force, a Coriolis force.
VapidActions t1_j8ppvb0 wrote
Reply to comment by GodzlIIa in Tortoise vs Hare by toonhole
"Up" is relative. Looking at the earth, you're shooting outwards from the sphere (or really irregular elipsoid). By the time the bullet reaches its destination, the planet has turned, resulting in an offset.
The Coriolis effect is a "fictitious force", meaning it's not an actual inertial force, but is calculated as a force based on a frame of reference. In this case, the frame of reference doesn't include the earth's rotation - you can't see that happening, and yet even though the bullet went straight up, something caused it to come back down in a different location, a force, a fictitious force, a Coriolis force.