01
Dec 13

Meeting Human needs through compromisation

 Short cut means another way that shortens the distance one has to travel. One of the most important factors determining economical efficiency is time. As the phrase says, “Time is Gold” it is one of the most important things in our life. We have couple of ways to reduce the time that we waste but one of the ways is by making a short cut, like what Panama did.

385px-Acpfigure1

Being one of the largest canal made, Panama Canal is famous for making the sea route shorter. In fact, it is the shortest short cut human ever made. It is a canal that connects Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.by doing so, it helps the ship crossing by cutting down the time taken by 2weeks for the same destination.

How Does It Work?

It is in fact a simple logic that greatly improved the way we transport the goods. Ship floats on water so by adding more water, ship rises at the same time. With this concepts, engineers were able to raise a gigantic cargo ships up to 85ft above the sea level without using tonnes of energy. By using 3 locks of doors, it prevents the sea water mixing with lake’s fresh water. The reason behind such inconvenience is that it creates a current when salinated water and unsalinated water mix. In a nutshell, it is a water elavator!

Since the canal takes about 30% of the Panama’s economy, they are expanding by making another canal that is wider so that larger ships can pass through and allows more ships to pass through at the same time. Hoping that it would bring more money, the Government has invested about $5Billion on the project.

This project is one of the engineer’s great work done that are designed to meet the Human and Social needs. As the world develops and globalisation expands, it is true that time is one of the most important factors. Indeed, this engineering marvel met our needs to make the world moves faster, cost efficient and less time consuming. Furthermore, common sense tells me that it would naturally bring more money and hence build stronger economy for the country. However, I have rather different opinion. As an engineering student, I personally go against the idea of such canal on this planet and the project of making another wider canal side by side because it destroys the natural habitat and the environment. We have to first priotized what is really important and rethink about what really benefit us!

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_expansion_project

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-19/panama-canal-has-to-accommodate-megaships-and-compete-with-climate-change


Skip to toolbar