History

1. [Music]
it's gigantic
yes it is
and so this is the bottom of the piranha
river are we really on the riverbed
that's right these are the foundations
it's actually the base the lowest level
of the main dam
as you can see here all this rock dates
from the time of construction
is the toughness of basalt important for
the itaipudam
absolutely yes
so the dam is just standing on rocks
in concrete terms yes
but the strength of the dam rests on 81
billion tons of reinforced concrete
it's an impressive way
to save concrete and not unduly burden
burdens structure which could damage the
bottom of the river
the builders designed a hollow dam
supported by buttresses
the architecture redirects forces to the
bottom and thanks to its wider base
allows it to better withstand the
enormous pressure of water
the dam thus stabilized the engineers
equipped it with 20 gigantic pen stocks
creating a drop height of nearly 120
meters which discharges 700 cubic meters
of water per second directly
into each turbine
[Music]
electricity is produced at the foot of
the structure in the largest
hydroelectric plant in the world
okay
[Music]
it's crazy to think that this uses a
simple principle of physics which is the
dynamo
only in absolutely gigantic dimensions
all physics is here electricity fluid
mechanics
electromagnetism everything
pretty much everything here we apply
practically all the sciences of
engineering
[Music]
but despite their ability to provide
clean energy even larger dams involve
sacrifices with populations displaced
and hydrological regimes and water
ecosystems modified
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[Music]
any costs that building this dam might
have had
on the environment i can ensure you are
outweighed
by the benefits starting by the huge