Oh, mariners of great wisdom and insight, do any of you know enough physical oceanography to describe the limits of width and depth of the Gulf Stream, and its average rate of flow? I was trying to do a rough estimate in my head oof how much raw energy it must possess moving those many tons of water, however slowly, but I have no real numbers to even start with. Consider that a single liter of water, massing slightly more than a kilogram due to saline content, takes just over 1 newton of force to accelerate at a rate of one meter/sec per second. Applying this force across one meter's distance is the definition of the joule, the international unit of energy. (I.e., one newton-meter). A watt-hour is equal to 3600 joules, and a kilowatt-hour equal to a thousand times that or 3,600,000 joules. At 62 degrees F, a gallon of water contains 3.782 liters, so moving one gallon through the distance of a meter would entail perhaps 3.78 joules.

My physics may have gotten a bit rusty, but the important question here is how much energy does the Folksinger's Moon provide us with day in and day out in the Gulf Stream alone, just by wobbling along her ancient trail? Any bets?

So if they can feed the power needs of half of new York State from that picayune lil Niagara Falls, how come us'n's is having us another one of them damn energy crises? That's what I want to know.

Regards,

Amos