A real time view of the Falkirk Wheel turning 180 degrees. The wheel joins two canals and gives access to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is an engineering masterpiece and a must visit attraction in Scotland.
The amazing part isn't that someone designed this nor that it was built and is functional. The most amazing part is that someone looked at the site, and decided that was how the problem would be solved. Makes me want to travel there just to ride in it once.
From a north american point of view, the wonder is that nobody laughs at the idea, shouted NERD and then pocketed the money and just build some overpass for cars...
It is a little underwhelming when you're there. My impression is that it's mainly used for tourism as not a lot of river traffic. It's like a theme park ride with no thrills
One of the aspects I find truly amazing is the really low horsepower required to raise the ship- 30 HP! Great engineering and visually appealing! Well done Scots!
The two flails are always in equilibrium, the 30 HP "only" serve to give the speed of rotation of the whole (and to fight as the friction). if I am not mistaken, an empty or loaded boat, it is a volume of water that varies according to the law of Archimedes.
This is amazing! I never heard of it before. I was thinking different boats would cause differences in weight until he talked about displacement. Nice presentation.
Its everytime the same weigth on both sides - phisikal principal. It dosent matter if there are 3 heavy botes on one side and non on the other. The amought of water is fixing it if the level is the same.
They are Scotty , Enterprise Engineer Star Trek. Tony Kettle,North of England, so English. The wheel constructed in that well known Scottish County, Derbyshire. In case you dont know where that is, its England.
Clever but simple engineering, a beautiful piece of architecture, anyone involved must feel rightly proud. Blends the old with the new and complements both. Engineering in the Uk is still alive.
I sometimes watch a movie where the dialogue is vital to the plot. Then they play some unnecessary annoying music just to make it harder to hear the words. Why?
I turned on Closed Captioning while watching the video. The CC AI had more trouble understanding the Scottish accent than I did! Maybe that's because my ancestry is 50% Scottish!
It's a beautiful surrounding, I grew up there, that area used to be the tar works. ..with the fish works some way back ..the stink could be eye watering.So it's an even more impressive achievement. What happened to the tar pool I fell in?
I’ve done the Falkirk wheel. It’s amazing experience. Although for someone who’s scared of heights it was intimidating. My mum dad and I did it on a narrowboat, so the view was even more spectacular.
I saw a tv documentary on engineering marvels that had an episode on the Falkirk Wheel. As an engineer, this impressed me so much that my wife and I travelled to Falkirk and spent a half day there. We travelled on the Antonine through the wheel and a little of the canal. If you are in Scotland it is a must see, a breathtaking piece of engineering art. We travelled from NZ and spent a week in Scotland had I have known how much I would love Scotland it would have been a month. What a stunning country, and yes home of my forebears
@@timothyneiswander3151 yip....super nerd...I have a shed full of laser Cutters , 3d printers, lathes and mills....etc, but most surprisingly two daughters!
Even I'm impressed and I'm a mechanical engineer.... It's very difficult bringing beauty and function together....the designers of this construction have passed this test....with distinction.
Awesome, yet simplistic engineering. This is just a sampling of what man can do when our mind is open to ideas. This is great. Should last for a very long time.
Absolutely amazing! Whoever came up with this simple design is a genius. Archimedes at work! Plus it uses such little power to operate. On my bucket list.
Well done.. When a college student in England I had the opportunity to navigate the Grand Union canal as a volunteer lock operator moving a pleasure boat from north of London to the Thames. It was a grand and memorable adventure.
Excellent video informative without being boring. What an ingenious way to connect the canals. Also a sculpture in and of it's self. Another place I would love to visit. Thank you for sharing.
Just came across the Falkirk Wheel in a physics text book and had to look a video up. I'm glad I did! Thanks for your video, what a great feat of engineering.
Amazing to see. We were on Archimedes today but didn’t hang around to see how things look and work from the shore view as the wheel is moving....I couldn’t really ‘get it’ until I watched this. It was great apart from the Captain who loved the sound of his own voice and well rehearsed jokes and simply would not shut up long enough for us to enjoy the experience.
@grodhagen my grandkids watch this Disney cartoon called Bluey, it's really cute... one of the episodes they're teaching the kids to appreciate what they have and not be jealous of others, when the neighbor dog looks over and says "look at the pizza I made with the pizza oven I got from Hammerbarn!', the dad says "Kids, were going to Hammerbarn..." I told my daughter we need to stock up on supplies because there's another lockdown coming, and there's probably going to be a grid down situation..we're going to wish that we had a pizza oven from Hammerbarn... Not one minute later, I got a coupon for $5 off a $50 purchase at Lowe's. I haven't seen a commercial for Lowe's, let alone get a coupon to go there, ever😮
Narration shouldn't have reverb/echo. Music is too loud, it drowns out the narrator's voice. Other than that, wonderful video. Why don't we have engineering like this in America ? Oh ya, I remember... because American politicians and big corporations have to cut corners using inferior materials and pay their labor cheap while putting all the funds for wonderful projects like this into their own pockets... making it to dangerous and unprofitable to bother with. Great engineering. Wonderful concept. I must visit Scotland some day.
Holy cow! Yay Scotland! Still innovating... I had no idea this was a thing... I even visited Scotland in 2004 for my first trip at 19... I wish I had seen this badassery then. But I'll settle for 2020.
+Frankincensed 4:14 he explain that the weight is always the same, if a heavy load goes in then more water comes out and 5 minuets to let 2 boats pass through is not slow. when one is going up another is coming down and it would be much faster than travelling through 5 different locks.
+Frankincensed The boat is called Archimedes, after the guy who discovered that of: "the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces"
On our trip in the tour barge, the guide was a young lady. Someone in the crown made a humorous remark about ladies being in charge of boats. Quick as a flash she grinned and shot back, "Who was captain of the Titanic? A boy or a girlie?" Roars of laughter. Game, set and match. Great trip. Amazing feat of engineering.😄
We're Americans and have narrow boated extensively through the canals of England. On a car trip through Scotland in 2018 we witnessed this engineering marvel in action. The nearest thing to this in England is the Anderton boat lift built in 1875, closed in 1983, but recently reopened in 2002.
Trust the thrifty (cheap?) Scots for figuring out how to get a lot for a little. My Scots grandfather would have approved. A lovely, lovely machine. Who says elegance can't go hand-in-hand with utility?
