Panama Canal Facts
Once you visit the Republic of Panama,
you will notice you were never far away from its two oceans. It just takes approximately
60 minutes to go from one coast to the other (Pacific / Atlantic)
by land.
Distance of the Panama Canal
The distance of the Panama Canal is only 50
miles long from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Its Atlantic Coast entrance runs northwest to southeast and its about 30 miles
north and more than 26 miles east with respect to the Pacific entrance. The
distance in between both entrances by air in only 42 miles.
It takes about eight to ten hours to
complete a full Panama Canal Transit. The excavation for the Panama Canal was
done in the narrowest points and lowest parts of the Isthmus
of Panama. This is what now divides North and South
America.
Panama Canal Locks
The Panama Canal
has a 3 set water lock system; the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic coast entrance,
the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks both on the Pacific coast entrance. Each
chamber of the Panama Canal Locks has 110 feet wide and 1,000 ft long.
The set of Panama Canal Lock were built in
pairs making it possible for two vessels to transit the Panama
Canal at the same time in the same direction or different
directions.
The Panama Canal
is functioning on a 24 / 7 basis for a period of 365 days a year. It has only
been closed twice ever since it started operations due to a landslide that occurred
in 1915 and on December 20, 1989, when the United Estates invaded Panama during
the George Bush government.
Panama Canal Lock System
Operations in the Panama
Canal are very simple due to the mechanism developed by its engineers.
The water that raises and lowers the vessels in the each of the Panama Canal Locks
“stairway whose steps are emptied or filled with water” is supplied by gravity
flow from the Gatun
Lake. The water enters each
Panama Canal Lock through a network of tunnels below each Panama lock
chamber. The tunnels are based on 10 sets that extend below the Panama Lock
chambers from sidewalls, and 10 sets from the main wall.
The diameters of these water tunnels have
4.5 feet in diameter and water is distributed through 100 openings on the floor
of the Panama Lock chamber. Fifty two million gallons of water are used and
emptied into the ocean every time a ship transits the Panama
Canal.
Panama Canal Video
