Various designs are made for the convenience of man, among which some designs are unique because of their uniqueness. The Panama Canal is such a unique creation because it is not just another canal cut through the middle of a country for shipping.
In the past, if you were to go by ship from San Francisco to New York, you had to go around the South American continent. It took a lot of time and a lot of money. Realizing this, France was the first to start the construction of this canal in 1881. When they were building this canal, about 25000 of their workers died, so they stopped the project midway. Later America took it over and completed the project.
This canal is 82 km long. If the canal was to be cut to sea level, it would have to be cut below 80 meters. But this is difficult because the terrain in that area is rough. But there was a small lake called Ganton on the way of cutting the canal and this lake gets water from the rain. The engineers were able to combine all these and create a different type of engineering. The design is a method of raising the ship in the canal instead of lowering it. For this, they used the lock to lift the ship 26 meters to the canal. Three such locks are built in this canal to lift the passing ships 26 meters into the canal and 26 meters below the ocean.
Where these locks are located, large chambers are built to fill the water. These are arranged so that the doors open and close. When a ship is entered into one of the chambers, the door behind the ship closes and water begins to fill it, causing the ship to rise. The ship is lifted up to 26 meters using several such chambers. Thus, when a ship enters and exits this canal, 202,000 cubic meters of water is added to the ocean.
Due to the large amount of water added to the ocean for one ship, Ganton Lake is used to obtain the necessary water. The lake was also enlarged to hold its water. After entering the canal, the ship is towed by tugs. In the lifting chambers, the ship is propelled by locomotives. The trip takes about 12 hours, but if going through South America it can take several days.
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