This month's Challenge Question: Specs & Techs from IHS Engineering360:
Northern Australia gets hit by several tropical cyclones
every year, as does the Philippines. Directly between Northern Australia and
the Philippines lies Indonesia which almost never experiences any tropical cyclones.
Why?
And the answer is:
The Earth rotates faster at the equator than near the poles
because the Earth is wider at the equator. This causes the Coriolis effect, an
apparent deflection of moving objects when measured within the Earth's spinning
reference frame. This is the reason why tropical
cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere spin counter-clockwise and in the Southern
Hemisphere spin clockwise. Any tropical cyclone that straddles the equator (and
thus is in both the North and South Hemispheres at the same time) tries to spin
both clockwise and counterclockwise, and rips itself apart. In addition, the clockwise
moving storms are deflected south while the counter-clockwise storms are
deflected north. The result is a "no fly zone" for tropical cyclones close to
the equator, which is where Indonesia lies.
See image below:

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