How fast does water flow downhill?
This is a tantalizing topic for students who like to talk around and about tricky problems. Such discussions lead far afield and before you know it, you are coming to grips with the basic laws of nature. Today’s topic could lead to careers in irrigation, flood control and other fields of geology. One takes it for granted that you know that this tricky question has a million different answers. Some people might dodge the problem by saying ent answers. Some people might dodge the problem by saying„ “It all depends.” But naturally you want to know the underlying laws of nature that make water flow downhill at different speeds. Our working examples are streams, flowing down slopes and inclined planes on the bumpy surface of the earth. There must be basic laws that make some streams dash along, others dawdle at a few feet per second and the plunging Niagara reach the foot of its 150 foot fall at 50 miles per hour. All streams, of course, are pulled down their inclined planes by the force of
