A hose creates a column of water with radius r at ground level that shoots straight upward to a maximum height h . What power is required to create this jet? (This is based on problem 91 in chapter 8 of Giancoli.) The water must come out of the hose with speed ? 0 =2 gh in order to reach height h . The time required for a water drop to travel from the base to the top of the water column is T =2 h / g . We can find the solution several different ways. (more…)

Around 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. There are different ways in which water can be used as a source of energy and humans have been exploiting this power for many centuries. Early waterwheels were driven by the flow in rivers or tides and used to grind cereals in mills, or to drive industrial machinery. The use of water as a source of energy has continued to develop, and can be categorised (more…)

WATER Power Tools™ v1.0 (WPT™) is a collection of over 200 software programs and reports designed to simplify and improve the management of your municipal water and wastewater systems. WPT™ uses Microsoft Excel® to provide software solutions to solve your resource management, technical, reference, and financial problems. Every program and report is accessed by an easy-to-use menu system. (more…)

A ll around planet Earth, water is on the move. In rivers and creeks, water fl ows downhill under the force of gravity. It starts off as rain or snow falling on the highlands and mountains. Running water forms tiny rivulets and streams, which gather to form large rivers. Most rivers fi nd their way to the edges of the continents, where they dump massive loads of fresh water and sediments into the oceans. (more…)

Imagine living 350 years ago in the Hudson River Valley. There is no shower, no air conditioner, and no toilet. You could swear there was a light switch, but your fingernails scrape candle wax. You can’t find the thermostat. There’s a block of ice in the closet, and your refrigerator is missing. Welcome to the New World . Empire builders, audacious entrepreneurs, and victims of religious persecution fought (more…)

Water power was one of the earliest sources of industrial power. Grist mills powered by waterwheels were common sights where streams passed through villages. Raceways and turbines eventually replaced the primitive water wheel and are found in every modern hydroelectric power plant. One problem with water power was reliability. If the stream or river ran dry there was no power. The solution was the dam. (more…)

S4 Reflections The footbridge spanning the West Okement River is an appropriate spot to pause, sensing this place – shadows of water rippling over rocks; maybe a dipper, or a kingfisher hunting for food in the stream, or brightly coloured damselflies and dragonflies patrolling above the water. Crossing the bridge is like walking through the overhanging canopy of a ‘rainforest’ – you are at tree height – amongst (more…)

Waterwheels first appeared in Egypt in around 200 BC. These early waterwheels were aligned horizontally and could be powered by oxen. They were used to raise water to irrigate the land and to power millstones for grinding grain into flour. Their use quickly spread throughout the Mediterranean. The Romans brought waterwheel technology to Britain. By 1086 when the Domesday Book was produced, there were more than 5,000 waterwheels (more…)

The creak of an old, wooden moss- covered wheel lazily driving a gristmill in a long lost past is how most people think of a small scale water power. Of course water power is old. Historical records put it at around 4000 years old. While that makes it an ancient technology, that doesn’t make it an antique technology. If you have ever considered windmills, think of a water wheel as a windmill that uses a fluid 824 times as dense. (more…)

Water power has been used for centuries as a source of energy, often to run mills, as it was at McKinney Falls. These mills may have ground corn or wheat, sawn lumber, or carded wool or cotton. Water power was even used to make ice on the San Marcos River. Today, there are hydroelectric plants, where water generates electricity to power lots of things. Here in Texas, settlers were given an extra (more…)