Waterfalls

[jetjockey5]

Why does a waterfall never run out of water?

[andyjevs]

If you're talking about natural waterfalls....as opposed to ones in garden ponds.....you will find that the places where waterfalls occur are very wet areas and usually quite warm and humid.....water runs from the top of a hill via a river or stream and overflows forming the waterfall.....the water then goes into a pool or another river/stream where much of the water evaporates causing clouds...which rain back down on the higher ground into the original river etc etc and starting again

I think !!!!!!!!!!!

[logman]

Andy is right, cloud high up in mountains saturates rocks to form streams and waterfalls, melting snow/ice is a contributarry factor also.

The garden ones are usually circulated by a hidden pump to simulate, what happens in nature..

[logman]

ps, "In a nut shell" what go's up must come down !

[andyjevs]

It's amaizing to think that all the water on the planet is all we will ever have......it just gets re-distributed, it evaporates then comes back as rainfall.

[logman]

Yep, everything on this planet is in fixed proportions, give or take the odd metior etc..

[ronnor]

what would happen if some bright spark developed a cheap efficient way to extract the hydrogen from our water for fuel.wot would that leave us with appart from more greenhouse issues?

[jetjockey5]

Thanks for the answers folks,it just seems mad that something like Niagra Falls is just basically evaporation....Lots of it!

[gen2]

ronnor, when hydrogen burns, it produces pure water and no other chemical.

[gucciman]

waterfalls can run out of water, if the stream or river that feeds it is affected by drought and dries up then the waterfall stops flowing. i found this out to my cost after walking 2 miles to see a famous waterfall in yorkshire only to get there and find it dry.