Archimedes and a Boat Lift: the Falkirk Wheel

2,299,581

46,815 0

Published 2015-09-28

tomscott.com/ - twitter.com/tomscott - The Falkirk Wheel sits between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in the southern parts of Scotland, and it's the world's only rotating boat lift. There's some very clever design going on here -- and some physics that goes all the way back to Ancient Greece.

All Comments (21)

@WilliamAncich 5 years ago

Ah yes, the Greek bloke with the bathtub. I also like the Italian guy with a telescope and the English dude with the falling apple.
@grahamrich9956 8 years ago

"The bloke with a bathtub" is now the official description of Archimedes.
@grantmelville263 2 years ago

I'm a Falkirk lad, born and bred - been to the Wheel once before. I remember the guide explaining that that it was powered by hundreds of hamsters. Quality banter.
@TomScottGo 8 years ago

I've been wanting to film up here for so long, and I finally managed to make it! This is such a beautiful bit of design, particularly when you start to think about the forces involved...
@toshibe2805 8 years ago

what if you just built a sick ramp to jump the boats?
@Dixavd 8 years ago

As a physics student, this sort of real world application of basic laws makes my day.
@Drakotar 8 years ago

Do you teleport Tom? You always seem to be everywhere with these awesome videos :P
@970357ers 8 years ago

All fun and games until someone turns up with a 501 ton boat!
@laurivirtanen8636 5 years ago

Has anyone ever said to you "GREAT SCOTT"
@mcswordfish 3 years ago

"Eureka" - Ephebian for "Please pass me my towel"
@djalland1 3 years ago

I live about a mile from the Falkirk Wheel and regularly walk my dog there. It never ceases to astonish me.
@charcolew 3 years ago

As a Scot, I have often taken visitors to see the Falkirk Wheel, and every last one of them was entranced by the design, the simplicity and the beauty of this engineering marvel.
@haravikk 1 year ago

Falkirk lad here, I managed to get up onto this while it was being built thanks to my dad somehow getting onto a tour group through his work; didn't do my fear of heights any good going up the shaky scaffolding they had mind you. Also been over it twice (both ways) on a boat, it's a superb piece of engineering and a lot easier than the 20-odd lochs you'd need otherwise!
@George_Azeria 8 years ago

So why do the Americans use 3 times as much as us? Is there a technical reason or do they just use more?
@tangerinealarm 8 years ago

I love the Falkirk Wheel, it's just a fantastic piece of modern engineering. It's a modern piece of engineering that isn't a bridge or a building or anything like that. It's, it's just wonderful.
@aggodoggo5532 2 years ago

Im doing a final project in physics over 1 of 5 topics. I saw "The Falkirk Wheel, a rotating boat lift near Falkirk in Scotland" and I was like, I think tom scott should have made a video over this. sure enough, here it is. Thank you ♥
@sergarlantyrell7847 3 years ago

One of my family once remarked how amazing it seemed for such heavy canal boats to cross an iron trough viaduct, and that they were surprised it could take the weight... 2200 years after Archimedes and they still don't know how displacement works...
@PaulHutchinsonLivesHere 8 years ago

*Not accounting for surface tension Just because I enjoy been difficult.
@SteampunkVaporyLounge 5 years ago

Lovely subject, fascinating. What I love more is how short, sweet and to the point this video was. Less than 3 minutes and I have everything I ever wanted out of this and more. THANK YOU!
@cactuarlol8288 8 years ago

I want "Things you might not know" and "Amazing places" in book forms please!