Every-day Science: Volume 6. The Conquest of NatureWilliams, Henry Smith
Science
Every-day Science: Volume 6. The Conquest of Nature
Williams, Henry Smith
Industrial arts; Machinery
As we step from the door of the power-house and stand again beside the
canal whose waters produce the wonderful effects we have witnessed
in imagination, one question remains to be answered: What becomes of
the water after it has passed through the turbine wheels down there
in the depths? The answer is simple: All the water from the various
turbines flows away into a great subterranean canal which passes down
beneath the city of Niagara Falls, and discharges finally at the level
of the rapids a few hundred yards below the Falls. The construction of
this subterranean canal would in itself have been considered a great
engineering feat a few decades ago; but of late years mountain tunnels,
such subterranean railways as the London "tube system" and tunnels
beneath rivers have robbed such structures of their mystery. It may be
added that another such subterranean canal, to serve as a tail-race for
one of the new Canadian plants, extends beneath the cataract itself,
discharging not far from the centre of the Horseshoe Falls. Another of
the power companies utilizes the water of the old surface canal which
extends to the brink of the gorge some distance below the Falls. Yet
another company on the Canadian side conveys water from far above the
rapids in a gigantic closed tube to the brink of the gorge just below
the Canadian Falls, above the point where their power-house is located.
But the principle involved is everywhere the same. The idea is merely
to utilize the weight of falling water. The water of Niagara River
is of course no different from any other body of water of equal size.
It is merely that its unique position gives the engineer an easy
opportunity to utilize the potential energy that resides in any body
of water--or, for that matter, in any other physical substance--lying
at a high level. In due course, doubtless, other bodies of water,
such as mountain lakes and mountain streams will be similarly put
into electrical harness. The electrical feature is of course the one
that most appeals to the imagination. But it may be well to recall
that the ultimate source of all the power in question is gravitation.
People fond of philosophical gymnastics may reflect with interest that,
according to the newest theory, gravitation itself is, in the last
analysis, an electrical phenomenon--a reflection which, it will be
noted, leads the mind through a very curious cycle.
THE EFFECT ON THE FALLS
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