engineering

Louisville Falls Fountain

Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain rather than just read about it. In short: The Louisville Falls Fountain was a fountain that floated in the Ohio River off the shore of downtown Louisville, intended to be a major tourist attraction for Louisville, Kentucky. Purported to be the tallest floating fountain in the world, it spouted 15,800 gallons of water per minute upward in the shape of a fleur-de-lis.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Louisville Falls Fountain was a fountain that floated in the Ohio River off the shore of downtown Louisville, intended to be a major tourist attraction for Louisville, Kentucky. Purported to be the tallest floating fountain in the world, it spouted 15,800 gallons of water per minute upward in the shape of a fleur-de-lis. The fountain, lit by colored lights, was operated from Memorial Day through Thanksgiving every day from morning through midnight, and stored during the winter in Utica, Indiana. When operating, it was visible from Belle of Louisville steamboat cruises, the Belvedere and nearby parts of downtown Louisville, as well as the Southern Indiana riverfront at Jeffersonville and Clarksville. The fountain operated from 1988 to 1998, when it broke down after an explosion and was shut down.

History The Louisville Falls Fountain was dedicated August 19, 1988, four days after the death of its benefactor, Barry Bingham Sr. who, along with his wife, Mary Caperton Bingham, had donated $2.6 million towards the project and future upkeep. The octagonally-shaped, computer-controlled fountain was located near the mooring of the Belle of Louisville, just west of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. The Binghams were inspired by the Jet d'Eau fountain in Geneva, Switzerland, and they, along with then-Governor of Kentucky Wallace Wilkinson, hoped a fountain in Louisville would become a symbol for the city on par with the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Costs were higher than expected, and the fountain malfunctioned several times, quickly depleting the maintenance fund. Maintenance was eventually taken over by the Louisville Water Company. It initially shot water to a height of 420 feet, though to lower operation costs this was eventually lowered by the water company to 375 feet. On September 27, 1998, the fountain's central pump exploded leading to a total breakdown, as reported by then-Mayor Jerry Abramson a few days later. Due to the expenses involved in repairing the fountain, the city decided to keep it shut down and subsequently sold it for scrap. As of 2019, the fountain was still floating and tethered to a barge on the Ohio River adjacent to New Albany, Indiana, yet to be dismantled.

See also Louisville Waterfront Park List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area History of Louisville, Kentucky

References

External links "Fountain on Film", LEO Weekly, August 13, 2008. Satellite image of the Louisville Falls Fountain's current location on Google Maps

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Louisville Falls Fountain

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain

In research: Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain 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: Louisville Falls Fountain is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980s in Louisville, Kentucky, 1988 establishments in Kentucky, 1990s in Louisville, Kentucky, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Louisville Falls Fountain in simple terms?

Why does Louisville Falls Fountain 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 Louisville Falls Fountain?

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 Louisville Falls Fountain.