What is rapids in simple words?

What is rapids in simple words?

Rapids are formed by one or more of the following: constriction, obstruction, gradient, and flow rate. For instance, when water is flowing swiftly over a rocky river bed, rapids can be formed. Rapids are typically found in or near the mountains, due to the element of gradient. The word “rapid” means “very fast.”

Where rapids are found?

Rapids. Rapids are most commonly found in the upper course of the river and form as a result of the river cutting down rapidly in a localised section of the river. They may form downstream of a waterfall that has retreated headwardly or they may mark the point of a previous waterfall section.

What are rapids called?

Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. As flowing water splashes over and around the rocks, air bubbles become mixed in with it and portions of the surface acquire a white colour, forming what is called “whitewater”.

How are rapids made?

Rapids are formed where a fast-flowing river quickly cuts downward through a bed of hard and soft rocks, eroding the soft rock and leaving the hard rocks standing above the water surface.

What are rapids and waterfalls?

Rapids are stream sections with extremely strong currents, numerous obstacles, and steps in their streambeds. A waterfall is a vertical drop in a streambed. Both are sites of vigorous erosion . Rapids often form where resistant bedrock confines a stream to a narrow channel, and forces an increase in water velocity.

How do rapids and waterfalls affect river travel?

Rapids tend to form in younger streams, with water flow that is straighter and faster than in older streams. The many tiny waterfalls they create make the slope of the stream more steep. The safety of a section of river is measured by the class, or level, of its rapids.

How are waterfalls caused?

Waterfalls can be formed in several ways, but the most common method of formation is that a river courses over a top layer of resistant bedrock before falling on to softer rock, which erodes faster, leading to an increasingly high fall. Waterfalls have been studied for their impact on species living in and around them.

Why are rapids white?

White water occurs in the upper course of the river when the gradient and obstacles disturb the flow of water, causing it to churn and create bubbles. These bubbles reflect back much of the light that hits them, making the water appear white.

How are waterfalls created?

Waterfalls. Waterfalls often form in the upper stages of a river where it flows over different bands of rock. It erodes soft rock more quickly than hard rock and this may lead to the creation of a waterfall. The soft rock erodes more quickly, undercutting the hard rock.

Is a rapid a waterfall?

What is a waterfall or rapids in a river called?

Waterfalls of small height and lesser steepness are called cascades; the term is often applied to a series of small falls along a river. Still gentler reaches of rivers that nonetheless exhibit turbulent flow and white water in response to a local increase in channel gradient are rapids.

Why do Rapids often follow waterfalls?

Rapids often form where resistant bedrock confines a stream to a narrow channel, and forces an increase in water velocity. Falling water erodes the soft rock even more quickly, and the waterfall grows taller. Turbulence at the base of the waterfall undercuts the newlyformed cliff, and it moves upstream.