Why Water Leaps Higher Than Its Fall: Air in the Bubbles
A cascade and boiling water, explained by air trapped in bubbles bursting out like an arrow
A large pen drawing of a cascade with boiling, foaming water fills the top of the sheet, above a block of text. Leonardo explains that water leaps much higher than its fall through a violent motion caused by the air enclosed in its bubbles. Once risen, this air floats in bubbles on the surface; when the water returns to the point of impact it is driven under again, trapping the air between the water pushing up and the water striking down. Constricted, the air suddenly bursts the water covering it and, like an arrow shot from the clouds, escapes upward carrying part of that water with it.
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Trapped air in bubbles makes water leap above its fall
Water leaps higher than its fall through a violent motion caused by air enclosed in its bubbles. When the fallen water is driven back under at the point of impact, the trapped air—squeezed between the water pushing it up and the water striking it down—suddenly bursts its watery lid and, like an arrow shot from the clouds, escapes upward, carrying part of the water with it.