Water spills up in one of the highest dams in the world

It seems that water defies gravity, but it is the structure of the gigantic Hoover Dam (southeast of Las Vegas) that causes the bottle to spill the liquid upwards.

The Hoover Dam, which resists the push of the Colorado River by the weight of its concrete, is shaped like an arch to direct most of the effort toward the natural walls of the Arizona canyon. This curved structure generates a strong vertical air current that carries the water upwards instead of allowing it to fall.

With its 221 meters and 17 generators, Hoover was the highest dam in the world after its completion and the largest hydroelectric plant on the planet between 1938 and 1948. All its records were surpassed by other constructions, but it continues to be one of the most fascinating works of engineering.

It was raised during the Great Depression, between 1931 and 1936, in conditions close to slavery. Its construction caused at least 107 accidents and 96 deaths, many of them from carbon monoxide poisoning. The dam contains 3.33 million cubic meters of concrete, enough to pave a highway that a New York with Los Angeles.