I cannot for the life of me understand how they work on a canal for example. Please dumb it down as much as possible
In: Engineering
They’ve got two doors, and the boat goes in, they close both doors, and the doors are reasonably water-tight, so at this point there is no water coming through the doors, and the boat is in a little box where the water level is it’s own thing, and not related to the water level of the river.
If the boat is going *up*, they let water in through the bottom, and when the boat has floated up to the level of the water on the upstream side, they open the upstream door, and the boat sails off.
If the boat is going *down* they let water *out* through the bottom, and when the boat has sunk down to the level of the downstream side, they open the downstream door, and the boat sails away.
It is important to note, if they ever opened both doors, it’d be a crazy waterfall, so that’s not usually a thing. Also, if they just opened one of the doors without letting water in or out first, the avalanche of water would wreck the boat, and maybe break the other door.
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