This week’s theme for the DailyPost Weekly Photo Challenge is Future, urging us to focus on the potential of things to come. I am planning to post several images throughout the week, with today’s image showing that part of the Future is here already.
The Falkirk Wheel is a marvel of modern engineering that truly opens our eyes to what is promises are held by the Future of science and engineering.
The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal, which have an elevation difference of 35 meters (appr. 115 feet). Prior to the construction of this marvel, ships were required to go through a system of 11 locks, which could take as much as a day to traverse.
The wheel raises boats by 24 meters, after which they still need to go through 2 locks for the remaining 11 meters. The lock operates on Archimedes’ principle, which states that the upward buoyant force on an object (i.e. boat) equals the mass of the water that is displaced. This means that when a boat enters the moving part of the lock, its mass plus the mass of the water is equal to the mass of the when the boat was not in the lock. In a nutshell both sides of the arm are always balanced.
Wheel in LandscapeThe Falkirk Wheel is the only lock of its kind in the world; it opened in 2002.
Technical Details
This image was shot with my Canon EOS 5D Mk III with an EF 24-105 f/4L lens. The camera’s built-in HDR processing was used to get the look and feel in these images.
Inspired by Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge – Future
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