A Programme of Questions on Moving Water
Sluice-gates, eddies at the locks of Milan, floods, and water forced through bridge arches
This full page of text sets out a research programme on water set in motion by opening sluice-gates at top, middle, or bottom: how it falls and moves at the surface, what it does striking ground or standing water, and how the leading wave behaves in even or uneven channels. Leonardo notes how eddies and their scourings arise, citing the locks of Milan, and distinguishes sudden river floods from those that swell little by little. He ends with floodwater that cannot pass through the arches of bridges, and how water forced through such arches gains impetus from the great weight pressing above.
On this page
What to study when water is set in motion
On opening a body of water's sluice-gates above, in the middle, or below, Leonardo lists the differences it makes in falling and moving at the surface, the effect of such a fall on ground or dead water, and how the first wave is maintained through an even or uneven channel. He adds how eddies and their scourings are suddenly generated, as seen at the locks of Milan, and the nature of sudden versus gradual river swellings.
Floodwater forced through bridge arches
He notes waters that, in great floods, cannot pass through the arches of the bridges that span them, and the manner in which water forced through such arches increases its impetus for having a great weight above it.