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Aqueduct Photos

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How is an aqueduct constructed?

The first story is composed of six arches. The second story consists of ten arches, and the third story carries the water with thirty-five arches.

Pont du Gard; Nimes, France

ArchColumn

first storysecond story

third story

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Arches, especially the arches constructed in the Pont du Gard, were built around wooden frames. The frames

were removed upon completion.

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• An arch was constructed from each end up to the center piece, known as the keystone.

• The keystone exerts a force on the adjacent stones so that this one stone at the top held the entire arch together. Thus, it is the key to the structure.

keystone

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• The Romans transported water from far away to cities via aqueducts.

• Cities had plumbing, providing private water for the rich and for public baths. Poor neighborhoods shared a public water site.

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Water is heavy stuff. It weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon.

The Romans needed a structure strong enough to hold all that water to move it from the mountains into the city.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

How does an aqueduct work?

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The water was transported in concrete tunnels. The tunnels were underground if possible. Sometimes the tunnel had to go above ground. Tunnels could be build with a shaft. This shaft allowed them to take out dirt and lower supplies to the workers.

tunnel

shaft

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The water flowed in a tube on the top of the aqueduct called a water channel. The arches supported the water channel.

water channel

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The channel was lined with concrete. The Romans invented concrete.

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How did it work?

• Gravity made the water flow.

• Roman engineers had to construct the aqueduct so the water would flow.

• The aqueduct was build to slope down at a .025 meters per kilometer.

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Comparing Rome to Modern

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Construct an Aqueduct Game by Nova

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/aqueductwave.html

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/roman/aqueductjava.html

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Photo Credits• https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/SpinningWeb/aqueclaudiamapb.jpg• http://www.dl.ket.org/latin2/mores/aqua/images/aquetunl.jpg• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/architecture/aqueducts2.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_aqueduct

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Sourceshttp://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/

structural/10-roman-engineering-tricks.htm

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/29209-what-the-ancients-knew-roman-architecture-

video.htm

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/11/roman-history-comes-to-life-in-google.html