What is the difference between a dam and a lock

The water level is adjusted by operating the adjustable gates. A dam is a high impervious barrier constructed across a river valley to form a deep storage reservoir. The surplus water is not allowed to flow over the dam, but it flows through the spillways provided at some level built into the dam. Get Educated Learn more about waterpower.

Take Action Get started today. Connect with others Learn from or share with others connect on Facebook Share what you're doing to help the cause Attend Events. In The News The latest news and updates. Glossary explaining terms, expressions and unusual words.

FAQ Questions, answers, action. Document Library All the documents available to download from our website are right here in one place. Join the team Join the team and help us make a difference. Why we do it Hear from members of the team.

Progress We have to have some way of measuring our progress against our goals and this is how we do it. Where We Stand Our thoughts and position on a number of issues related to water power and renewables in general. Make energy production sustainable. Side view of a lock. Notice the moveable gates and different water levels. Locks enable water vessels to move from one section or body of water at one level to another section of water at another level through river and canal waterways. How does it work?

A lock might be described as a huge enclosure set in a water channel with watertight and moveable doors gates on the front and back. At the point where bodies of water at different levels meet, a dam and lock system bridges the gap by creating a contained area that can individually raise or lower its own water level to step a boat up or down the waterway.

See Figure 1 animation , Figure 2 three-part diagram or the attached Dam and Lock Visual Aid for a description of the basic steps to move a ship through a lock. The principle behind locks is straightforward: The river is an inclined plane whose water moves in and out of locks by gravity. Think of locks as a flight of "water stairs" going up and down a hill.

Water is drained from the first lock using gravity until the water level is even with the second one. The downstream gate is opened so the vessel can move into the lower lock, and the process may be repeated numerous times. The lifting and lowering of vessels, some weighing up to 60 tons, is done without a great use of energy. The deeper you go beneath the water's surface, the more water pressure you'll find.

Have you ever dived deep into a pool and thought about the pressure you feel in your ears? The deeper you go, the more pressure you feel. A lot of people do not realize how strong water can be! Imagine how much water pressure is at the bottom of the ocean.

Water pressure is something that scuba divers think about — and engineers. Imagine how strong a structure must be to hold back the force of all the water in a reservoir a dam , or to keep water from going where you do not want it a lock! Who can explain to me how a dam and lock system works? Let a few students explain. How do locks help improve river navigation?

How are gravity and water pressure involved in how locks work? See additional discussion questions and answers in the post-lesson Assessment section. For example, the Earth's mass pulls you down so you stay on the ground instead of flying away. Pascal's law : A hydrostatics principle that says that for all points at the same absolute height in a body of a fluid, the pressure is the same, even if additional pressure is applied on the fluid at some place.

Expressed as force per unit area. Think-Pair-Share: Ask students to think about the following questions and then share their responses with a neighbor. Review as a class. Points to make: What you are feeling at the bottom of the swimming pool is the water's pressure. The deeper we dive, the more pressure we feel from the weight of more water being above us.

Sometimes our ears hurt because of the pressure on our eardrums. Toss-a-Ball: Ask the following questions to the class and have each student catch and toss a ball while answering. Class Discussion: Ask students the following questions. Listen to their answers. Discuss as a class:. Engineering Drawings: Once students understand how lock and dam systems work, ask them to create preliminary drawings as if they were engineers from Splash Engineering designing a system for their municipality client Thirsty County.

Require that the drawings illustrate where along a river Birdseye River the dam and lock structure will be built, the dimensions of the structure how long, wide and deep , and the number of locks in the structure. For an added challenge of constraining the students' designs, tell them that the river is 50m wide and 8m deep, and the largest vessel permitted to pass through is 10m long.

As a short homework assignment, have students make a list of 10 products found in their homes, noting their place of origin. Possible items include clothing, shoes, gadgets, small appliances and toys. Students will probably discover that many of their products came from other countries!

With the class, discuss how many of these products traveled on ocean-going vessels or barges. Ask students to talk about how their lives would be different if engineers had not designed lock and dam systems to enable water vessels to travel long distances.

Assign students to research and report back on the amazing boat lifts in use in different countries. Many are modern day marvels of engineering. Adler, Jerry "Troubled Waters. Published July 26, , pp. Cannelton Locks and Dams. Source of some vocabulary definitions, with some adaptation.

Lock and Dam 6, Trempealeau, WI. Updated September 26, US Army Corps of Engineers. Accessed July 14, Locks and Dams. Newton's Apple Teacher Guides. Locks and Dams: How do locks and dams work? Post Comment. Disclaimer: Comments will be moderated by Jagranjosh editorial team. Comments that are abusive, personal, incendiary or irrelevant will not be published. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name, to avoid rejection.

Do you know the difference between Dam and Reservoir We often confused with the meanings and connotations of the term Dam and Reservoir. Human create dams and reservoir all around the river to control the flow of river and to store water for various purposes.

Do you know the difference between Dam and Reservoir. Related Categories. This website uses cookie or similar technologies, to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalised recommendations.