Visited the spectacular & unique Falkirk Wheel over the weekend. It's a massive steel boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal in central Scotland.
The wheel itself and the canal approach are both very modernist in design - lots of functional concrete, industrial steel, curves and of course, water...
The wheel raises boats by 24 metres but the Union Canal is still 11 metres higher than the aqueduct which meets the wheel so boats must pass through a pair of locks to get between the top of the wheel and the Union Canal.
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But how does in work....?!
The caissons or gondolas always carry a combined weight of 500 tonnes of water and boats, with the gondolas themselves each weighing 50 tonnes. Care is taken to maintain the water levels on each side, thus balancing the weight on each arm. According to Archimedes' principle, floating objects displace their own weight in water, so when the boat enters, the amount of water leaving the caisson weighs exactly the same as the boat.
It takes just 22.5 kilowatts to power the ten hydraulic motors, which consume just 1.5 kilowatt-hours per half-turn, roughly the same as boiling eight kettles of water.
[ lots more on The Falkirk Wheel Wikipedia page here ]
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Also, along the canal on the other side of Falkirk, the Andy Scott-designed 'Kelpies' are worth a visit -100 feet high steel horse heads.
(please note that The Kelpies are not to be confused with the common Water Kelpie, the shape shifting spirits whom inhibit Lochs across Scotland)
(please note that The Kelpies are not to be confused with the common Water Kelpie, the shape shifting spirits whom inhibit Lochs across Scotland)
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