We went to see the Grand Coulee (kool-ee) Dam in (surprise, surprise) Grand Coulee, Wa. You may not have even heard of this dam, but it is the largest concrete structure in the world, the largest dam in the world, and the third largest power generator in the world! We got to take a tour inside the dam power house and let me tell you, it was the most awesome man-made thing I have ever seen! The dam and power houses contain 12 MILLION cubic yards of concrete, The water flows through the pen-stock at 70 mph, and past each of the turbines at about 110,000 gallons per SECOND!!! The dam makes so much electricity that they sell it as far away as southern California.
When you are inside, the whole structure vibrates and you can hear the roar of water constantly.
When we went into the room that houses the generator shafts, the noise increased 100 times and so did the vibration! The shafts are 8 feet in diameter and spin at 72 RPM.
Later that night we saw a laser show displayed on the spillway which told the story of the dam and then showed shapes and stuff like that. Hard to describe, kinda like a fireworks show. I tried ti take pictures, but i could not capture the effects. If you are ever out this way I HIGHLY recommend seeing the dam and the laser show.
The dam is 1 mile long!
Looking at the dust covers on the generators. (Too dangerous to go in)
An attempt to capture the laser show
Looking along part of the top
Making power at a display at the visitor center
2 comments:
SO, did you get the house??? The Hathaways
yeah, trying to close today or tomorrow. Tx!
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