Is the Coriolis force “fictitious”?
There is an aspect of the coriolis effect that is a manifestation of inertia. If that aspect is assumed to be a force, then that is a fictitious force. Take the situation of a large rotating disk, with a box on it, and in the box a weight is suspended, it is suspended on all sides with springs. If for example the angular velocity of the disk would be increased, the weight would “lag behind” slightly, due to inertia. That is, at first the springs are deformed, and as the springs are compressed they start exerting more and more force on the weight, until the weight is brought up to speed. So if the weight momentarily lags behind, an observer monitoring the position of the weight in its suspension can infer that the angular velocity of the disk must be changing. Given the nature of inertia, only that scenario explains the displacement of the weight in its suspension. If, given a constant angular velocity of the disk, the box is moved over a section of meridian (a meridian is a straight li
