Special Sub-Topic: Canal or Can Not? Click Here To Play: Canal or Can Not?

Canals are man-made channels for water. Which of the following would be considered canals?

Both of these. Waterways can either be canals that connect existing bodies of water such as the Panama Canal which connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, or they can be a series of networked channels in a city such as Amsterdam and Venice. Aqueducts are water supply canals that transport water for human consumption.

A canal could be a simple trench with water. Sometimes it is necessary to line the cut with a material to make the canal watertight. When clay is used in this manner, what is this process is called?

Puddling. In modern canal manufacture concrete is more commonly used than clay.

When a watercourse is canalized, what does this mean?

Making it more navigable and maneuverable for ships. This process includes damming, dredging the canal or modifying its course. An example would include parts of the Aisne River in France.

What period of time saw a sharp increase in canal building?

The Industrial Revolution, to facilitate cheap transport of raw materials and manufactured goods. The Industrial Revolution depended on both raw materials and manufactured goods to be transported effectively and efficiently. The early Industrial Revolution preceded railway / railroad development so waterway travel provided the most efficient transport mechanisms.

The longest canal in the world is the Grand Canal in China. It starts in Beijing. Where does it end?

Hangzhou (appox. 1780km). Work on the Grand Canal commenced in the fifth century BC. The canal was the main transport artery between North and South China. Its main purpose, initially, was to ship grain to Beijing.

Work commenced on the Suez Canal in 1859. When was it opened?

1869. The canal was lengthened to 193km/120miles long and depth was increased from 8m/26ft to 24m/79ft.

The Panama Canal commenced building in the second half of the nineteenth century. When was it opened?

1914. The construction of the Panama Canal is considered one of the most difficult engineering feats ever undertaken. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, it is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

The Erie Canal allowed a navigable route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. Between which two cities does this canal travel?

Albany to Buffalo. The canal has 34 locks. In 2000, U. S. Congress conveyed National Heritage status on the canal for the vital role in played in United States commerce and engineering in the 19th Century.

The Kiel Canal (98km/61mi), in Germany, connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea. Which of the following facts about this canal is true?

The canal when first constructed was part of Denmark-Norway.. In 1864 the area known as Schleswig-Holstein (including the Kiel Canal) had come under the control of the government of Prussia (from 1871 the German Empire) following the Second Schleswig War as the German navy wanted to link its bases in the Baltic and the North Sea without the need to sail around Denmark. The Kiel Canal saves an average of 460 km on a trip from the Baltic to North Sea by not having to sail around Denmark. An average 43 000 ships per year use the canal making it the world's busiest artificial seaway. The canal was dredged in 1907-14 to allow the larger battleships of World War I to use the canal. There are 11 bridges, 14 ferry crossings and an underground pedestrian crossing the canal.

Canal or Can Not? In 1880 plans were drawn to make Bucharest in Romania a port by connecting Romania via a canal to the Danube river and onto the Black Sea via the Danube-Black Sea Canal. Many factors stopped the canal from being built and the canal had not been completed. In 1990 when work stopped on the canal, how much of the canal had been completed at this point?

60%. In 2005 it was estimated that the canal would take four years and $US400 million to complete but financing was not found at this time. By 2012 the canal had still not been completed.