Water forced through irregular openings; crossing streams in a fall
How jets bend and strike the banks, and where falling streams intersect in the air
Several experiments on water passing through irregular openings fill the page. When water issues from an opening of unequal height it bends toward the lower side, strikes that bank, and leaps to the opposite one with equal fury; a triangular sluice four braccia high on one side and one on the other sends the flow toward its low corner. A large perspective drawing shows water cascading through a narrow gate into a lock, its streams crossing at several points in the air, and a schematic diagram marks the higher crossing m and the lower crossing n formed by the lines through the opening. Leonardo proposes tinting the water to trace the crossings and urges trying openings of every shape — twisted, straight, round, square, thin — to watch how the jets strike and how circles spread from the percussion.
On this page
A jet from an uneven opening bends and strikes both banks
When water passes through an opening of unequal height or width, its course bends and strikes the bank on the side of the lowest part of its issue; and having struck, it leaps to the opposite side with no less fury.
Flow runs toward the low corner of a triangular sluice
If the opening is four braccia high on one side and one braccio on the other and is always full, the water, always declining toward the low places, will run toward the low part of the hole.
Falling streams cross in the air
Water falling from a narrow-mouthed opening out of a large body of water crosses itself at various points in the air; and one crossing is higher than another in proportion as its cause is nearer the opening.
The crossings m and n, and proofs with tinted water
Because crossing m is nearer the exit than crossing n (caused by e and f), it forms higher, as the figure shows. Tint the water on the right side of the open body and it will strike below on the left. He advises making water flow from openings of every quality — twisted, straight, long, short, round, square, thin — and strike various obstacles, watching how the far end labors to begin moving and how the circles spread from the percussion.