Question

A grist mill of the 1800s employed a water wheel that was 8 m high; 490 liters per minute of water flowed onto the wheel near the top. How much power, in kW, could this water wheel have produced? Take the density of water to be 1,000 kg/m kW

Answer 1

0.64 kW

Step-by-step explanation:

The potential energy of a mass (M) at some height (h) is computed from ...

PE = Mgh

At 1 kg/liter, the available power is the rate at which that energy is available ...

(490 kg/min)×(1 min/(60 s))×(9.8 m/s²)(8 m) ≈ 640.3 kg·m²/s³

= 640.3 W

In kilowatts, that is 0.64 kW.