Niagara Falls

Youtube Link

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB6gHz8XHDI

History of the Falls

• Some 12,000 years ago, many deluges of water from the Ice formations over Lewinston, NY
• The force of water continued to form the massive falls that they are today

The Power of The Falls?

• Tourism attractions- 12 Million People Visit Per Year
• Hydroelectric Power- The Falls Generate 2.5 Million Kilowatts of Energy

Question: 150,000 Gallons of Water Drop from the American Falls Every...?
A. Second
B. Day
C. Month
D. Year

The Answer is A. Second!

Today, I will talk about the American Falls (a section of the Niagara Falls) primarily

Energy Transformations of The American Falls

• Like any waterfall, you have Gravitational Potential Energy transforming into Kinetic Energy in Motion

How can you quantify this energy transfer?

Initial Stats

• Every second, 567,811 liters of Water flow over the American Falls (1L of Water= 1 kg of Water), so 567, 811 kg of water flows off the falls per second
• The true height of the falls is 53.6m, but there are some rocks , so the height we deal with today is 21.3m
• The consant for acceleration of gravity on earth is, of course.....9.8 m/s^

Does anyone want to guess the amount of Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE) at the top of the Niagara Falls?

The Calculation of the GPE

• The formula is mass*height*gravitational acceleration
• So it would be 567,811kg*21.3m*9.8m/s
• That calculates out to 118524868.14 J or 1.1852486814*10^8 of GPE
• This is the combined potential energy from the entirety of the American Falls

GPE Explained

• At the top of the falls, the Gravitational Potential Energy is 118,524,868.14J, while the Kinetic Energy is 0J while the water is not in descending motion

Continued

• At the 1/2 way mark (at 10.65m down), The GPE is 59,262,434.07J and the Kinetic Energy is 59,262,434.07, since the time from the rocks is essentially cut in half

Guess the amount of GPE and Kinetic Energy in Joules at the rocks of the American Falls!

Answer

• It would be 118524868.14J of Kinetic energy and 0J of GPE, since the water has no where to go from that downward descent

Lost Energies

• If you remember from the first video, the Falls can get really loud, so a primary "lost energy" would be "lost" sound energy
• Fun fact: The noisiest spot in the American falls is 95dB or 95 decibels

Niagara Canadian Falls GPE

• 50.9m*2,271,247kg of water per second*9.8m/s= 1,132,943,428.5 J or 1.1329434285*10^9 J

The End