Forces cause the motion of air, producing winds and changes of weather. The purpose of this module is to understand these forces: what causes them, how they tend to balance each other, and how they produce the wind. Additionally, understanding atmospheric forces will allow you to discover additional, fundamental facts about the structure of the atmosphere and the close relationships among temperature, pressure, and wind.

  1. Review Newton's First Law (understand that without any forces, objects will remain in motion)
  2. Review Newton's Second Law (understand that forces cause acceleration)
  3. Learn the concept of an "air parcel"
  4. Understand what happens when two or more forces are acting at the same time
  5. Learn the names of the important forces in the atmosphere
  6. Learn what causes each force

  1. Newton's First Law
  2. What's an air parcel?
  3. Newton's Second Law
  4. Balance of forces
  5. Forces in the Atmosphere
  6. Coriolis Force experiment
  7. Lies About the Coriolis Force
  8. Demonstrations of How the Coriolis Force Works
  9. How the Coriolis force acts on an air parcel
  10. Summary

ATMO203 Home Page
Texas A&M Atmospheric Sciences Dept. Home Page

Questions or Comments

Technical: E-mail John Fulton < jdfult@nimbus.met.tamu.edu >
Scientific: E-mail Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon. < nielsen@ariel.met.tamu.edu >

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