| Photo Information |
Copyright: Claude LAPLACE (CLAP)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 105 W: 3 N: 37]](http://i1.trekearth.com/misc/g-n-s.gif) (437) |
| Genre: Places |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 1996-08 |
| Categories: Nature |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2006-10-06 17:24 |
| Viewed: 1797 |
| Points: 0 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note [French] |
Miraflores locks.
The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. It has had an enormous impact on shipping between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, obviating the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 kilometres (6,000 mi), well under half the distance of the previous 22,500 kilometre (14,000 mi) route around Cape Horn.
The most visually impressive feature of the canal is its locks. The lock chambers are 33.53 metres (110 ft) wide with a usable length of 304.8 metres (1000 ft).[7] The available water depth in the lock chambers varies, but the least depth of 12.55 metres (41.2 ft) is at the south sill of the Pedro Miguel locks.[8] These dimensions determine the maximum size of ships which can use the canal; this size is known as Panamax. All of the locks on the canal are paired; there are two parallel flights of locks at each of the three lock sites, which in principle allows ships to pass in opposite directions simultaneously. However, large ships cannot cross safely at speed in the Gaillard Cut; in practice ship traffic flows alternately, using both "lanes" of the locks in one direction at a time.
Each lock chamber requires 101,000 cubic metres of water (26.7 million U.S. gallons) to fill;[9] this water enters the chamber by gravity via a network of culverts beneath each lock chamber. Ships are hauled through the locks by small railway engines called mulas (mules, named after the animals traditionally used to pull barges), running on tracks on the lock walls; smaller vessels, such as small tour boats and private yachts, are taken as handline transits where mooring lines to the lock walls are handled manually by line handlers on the vessel.
From Wikipedia |
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