Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift located near the town of Falkirk in Scotland. It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal and overcomes a height difference of 24 m. The Falkirk Wheel allows for inland water connection between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

It operates based on Archimedes‘ law. The two boats located at the ends of the massive rotor are always balanced, regardless of the weight of the boats. Both boats have a capacity of 600 tons of water. A relatively weak motor (22.5 kW) is sufficient to power the entire system, which rotates the rotor by 180° in 5 minutes.

The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world. There is another boat lift, the Anderton Boat Lift, in the United Kingdom that operates on a similar principle of two balanced tanks, one rising and one falling.

A system of 11 locks that allowed transportation between the canals until the 1930s was replaced by the lift.

The entire canal revitalization project cost 84.5 million pounds and the construction of the lift cost 17.5 million pounds.

Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the lift on May 24, 2002. A group of vandals forcibly opening and damaging the water gates of the lift delayed the opening by a month.

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