panama canal?

Question

i know that it has locks to raise the ships but why is this important, why cant they just cut a hole through the middle and sail the highest the side walls would be is 80' and that could easliy be taken of through demolition

Answer 1

Not only are the two oceans at different levels, they have different ranges of tide. The "range" is the water height difference between high and low water.

If the canal was just an open cut, the currents flowing through it would be unnavigable.

Answer 2

The level of Gatun Lake in the center of Panama is 26 meters or about 85 ft. above sea level. If it was a straight shot through, they would lose much of the lake and they would have to dredge a much deeper channel for the large ships to get through. They would also have a very difficult time regulating the water level due to the tides coming through that narrow of a passage from both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Answer 3

the elevation from one end of the canal to the other is a lot higher than 80 feet you have to use the locks

Answer 4

it took 10,000 American engineers and 35,000 West Indian laborers some ten years digging and blasting thru the spine of Central America to make that 80 deep cut........it's NOT like digging sand in Suez, the reason the French effort failed so disastrously..............and also as was mentioned, there's a one foot tide in the Caribbean and a20 foot tide in the Pacific to deal with

Answer 5

Cuz the artificial Miraflores Lake is 16.5 metres (54 ft) above sea level.

Answer 6

Because the Pacific & Atlantic Oceans are @ different see levels.

Answer 7

don't you know the difference between a chair?

Answer 8

Because Satan would be very upset