Jets from a Vase; Water Curling Past a Submerged Rock
How high a spout rises under varied conditions, and the crescent waves over a covered rock
Two water studies fill the sheet. In the first, drawn at upper right as a vessel spouting an arc of water, Leonardo lists the variables governing how high a jet rises, the height of the outlet, the thickness of the stream, its obliquity, and its distance from the foot of the vessel. In the second he observes that water runs faster along the sides of a submerged rock than over it or after passing it, so the waves of its leaps twist into crescent, moon-like figures on the surface, drawn as the row of overlapping crescents in the middle of the page.
On this page
How high a jet from a vase rises under varied conditions
Leonardo asks how high the water will throw when made to issue as low as possible, and how high at different outlet heights, different thicknesses of stream, different obliquities, and different distances of the outlet from the foot of the vessel. The upper-right drawing shows the vase and its arcing spout.
Crescent waves over a submerged rock
The water runs more strongly along the sides of a covered rock than over its top or after it has passed, and so it twists the waves of its leaps, making lunar (crescent) figures on the surface. The middle of the page shows these overlapping crescent waves.