engineering

Kootenay Lake Crossing

Kootenay Lake Crossing is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kootenay Lake Crossing rather than just read about it. In short: Kootenay Lake Crossing is a powerline crossing of Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The idea was to transport electricity from the Hydro dam on the Kootenay River at Brilliant to the Cominco Sullivan Mine at Kimberley.

Key takeaways

Kootenay Lake Crossing belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kootenay Lake Crossing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kootenay Lake Crossing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kootenay Lake Crossing is a powerline crossing of Kootenay Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The idea was to transport electricity from the Hydro dam on the Kootenay River at Brilliant to the Cominco Sullivan Mine at Kimberley. The most direct route was across Kootenay Lake. Originally it was with a span width of 3,248 metres (10,656 ft) the longest powerline span of North America and fixed on three 19-metre (62 ft)-tall towers at the west shore, one for each electrical phase, and a 112 metres (367 ft) tall electricity pylon on the east shore. This tower was erected in spite of high mountains on the east shore for building short towers were available, as erecting span terminal towers on them would have required a longer span, for which the use of spliced conductors were required, which was undesired as the splicing point is a potential point of failure. Roebling Cable provided the steel support cable for the conductor. The height of conductor over Kootenay Lake was 37 metres (121 ft). Kootenay Lake Crossing was inaugurated in 1952, but on March 8, 1962, the huge tower on the east shore was destroyed by explosives placed by the Sons of Freedom religious sect of the Doukhobors. As at those days longer unspliced conductor ropes were available, the destroyed tower was not rebuilt, instead as replacement a 19 metres tall tower triple like that on the west shore of Kootenay Lake on a higher area on the east shore was built. The powerline is still in operation today, but today with 63 kV instead of 170 kV as originally proposed.

Coordinates of Powerline Crossing Triples East shore: 49°42'2"N 116°51'59"W West shore: 49°42'29"N 116°54'44"W

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kootenay Lake Crossing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kootenay Lake Crossing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kootenay Lake Crossing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kootenay Lake Crossing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kootenay Lake Crossing

In research: Kootenay Lake Crossing appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kootenay Lake Crossing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kootenay Lake Crossing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics British Columbia building and structure stubs, Buildings and structures in British Columbia, Doukhobors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kootenay Lake Crossing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kootenay Lake Crossing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kootenay Lake Crossing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kootenay Lake Crossing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kootenay Lake Crossing in simple terms?

Why does Kootenay Lake Crossing matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kootenay Lake Crossing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kootenay Lake Crossing.