Reflection 1 : Falkirk Wheel
Regions such a Scotland, Nederland have a dense network of canals, which have been used for trade-related activities for centuries. This gave a need to move from one canal to another to save time, money and avoid an extremely inconvenient detour to reach their destination. The flight of locks was common to take a boat to a higher or lower altitude to merge with the other canals, which is time and energy-consuming. During a visit Falkirk Wheel in 2016 while traveling across Great Britain and Scotland. Being a mechanical engineer, By the way, Archimedes is the Greek guy with a bathtub who discovered that the buoyant force exerted on a body submerged in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. It would mean that the volumetric capacity of the two gondolas would always remain the same.
Though it may look like a piece of computer-generated scenery straight out of a sci-fi movie, the Falkirk Wheel transports boats from one disjointed canal to another as they navigate the Scottish countryside. The concept of a wheel as a boat lift was one of the considerations for the Falkirk project. Other concepts included rolling eggs, tilting tanks, a giant see-saw, and overhead monorails! They claim that the final design took inspiration from a Celtic double-headed spear, a vast turning propeller of a ship, the ribcage of a whale, and the spine of a fish. As said by Einstein, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” which you can see is true in this case. It is fascinating how physics and creativity sparked this innovative design and gave birth to this modern engineering marvel. The Falkirk Wheel could be an excellent example of how cross-pollination of fields helps solve critical problems innovatively. Physics and biology in this case.
