The recent earthquake in Japan has created a huge tsunami, which has already killed more than 10,000 people. And the death toll is increasing. We usually think of water as soothing and caressing. However, it can be surprisingly destructive. Imagine that there is a body of water that has the same volume as a car. This water body is nearly 1700 pounds! And when this water body is moving at 30 miles per hour, like the tsunamii

 

in Japan, it can be extremely dangerous. And when the tsunami happened, it is not only a car that runs over you, it is a fleet of them. In addition, the tsunami will also bring dirt, rocks, cars, and trees, which will largely increase it’s destruction. So even if the wave only comes up to the knees, the force is enough to knock a person down. According to Harry Yeh, a professor of ocean engineering at Oregon State University, the energy of the tsunami is only a little bit less than an atomic bomb. Despite of all these negative characteristic of water’s power, we use this enormous power to generate much electricity!