This week we looked how strong a dam must be to hold back the water in a lake.
It turns out that the force exerted on the dam doesn't depend on how much water is in the lake, but rather just on the depth of the water. It is tricky to calculate the total force on a dam however because the water pressure is different at different depths. So the bottom of the dam will experience a lot more force than the top. You can estimate the total force by considering horizontal sections of the dam separately, and if you want to be more accurate, calculus can get you to the precise value.
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