What is a cataract on the Nile?
The Cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths of the Nile River, between Khartoum and Aswan, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and stones jutting out of the river bed, as well as many rocky islets.
What is the difference between a cataract and a waterfall?
A cataract is a type of waterfall with a large, single vertical drop, usually falling clear of the bedrock. A cascade waterfall is used to describe a waterfall running over an irregular steep surfaced gradient where the water is generally in contact with the river bedrock.
Why is a waterfall called a cataract?
The term “cataract” is derived from the Latin, “cataracta” which means “waterfall” and the Greek” katarhaktes” which means “waterfall, broken water; swooping, rushing down”.
Where are the six cataracts?
Individuals can find the cataracts between Aswan in Egpyt and Khartoum in Sudan. Five of the six major sections are located in Sudan, with one in Egypt at Aswan.
How did the cataracts help Egypt?
The cataract system created a natural boundary at Aswan, separating Egypt from its southern neighbor, Nubia.
What are cataracts caused by?
Most cataracts develop when aging or injury changes the tissue that makes up the eye's lens. Proteins and fibers in the lens begin to break down, causing vision to become hazy or cloudy. Some inherited genetic disorders that cause other health problems can increase your risk of cataracts.
What is an example of a cataract?
A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye. For people who have cataracts, seeing through cloudy lenses is a bit like looking through a frosty or fogged-up window.
What are the 3 types of cataracts?
There are three primary types of cataracts: nuclear sclerotic, cortical and posterior subcapsular.
- Nuclear Sclerotic Cataracts. …
- Cortical Cataracts. …
- Posterior Subcapsular Cataracts.
Why is it called a cataract?
Cataract dates to the 14th century and comes from the Latin word cataracta, meaning "portcullis." The Latin pertains to the ocular cataract, probably because it obstructs one's vision much like the portcullis's heavy iron grating obstructs passage into a fortress or castle.
Why is a cataract so called?
The word cataract comes from the Latin word “cataracta” meaning waterfall, with the condition possibly therefore named after the white appearance of rapidly running water.
Does the Nile river flow backwards?
Rivers always flow downhill. It's a common misconception that something about the earth forces most rivers to flow south. Plenty of rivers flow north, including the Nile, which gathers from high-elevation lakes in the African Rift Valley.
Is the Nile fresh or saltwater?
Answer. The Nile supports freshwater marshes and swamps as it winds its way north, and brackish wetlands near its delta on the Mediterranean Sea.
Where is the first cataract?
Aswan City The Nile River is shown above passing the granite islands that form the first cataract at Aswan City, Egypt.
What was the Red land?
In ancient times, the Egyptians called the desert the "red land", distinguishing it from the flood plain around the Nile River, called the "black land". These colours reflect the fact that the desert sands have a reddish hue and the land around the Nile turned black when the annual flood waters receded.
What does a cataract look like?
Clouded, Spotty, and Double Vision Like we previously stated, a cataract is characterized by cloudy eyes and vision. Because of the cloudiness cataracts cast over the lens of people's eyes, looking through an eye lens that is diseased with cataracts may seem like looking through a fog.
Where is cataract waterfall?
cataract, a waterfall (q.v.), especially one containing great volumes of water rushing over a precipice. Rhine Falls, on the upper Rhine River near Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
What do cataracts do?
A cataract scatters and blocks the light as it passes through the lens, preventing a sharply defined image from reaching your retina. As a result, your vision becomes blurred. Cataracts generally develop in both eyes, but not always at the same rate.
What causes a cataract?
Most cataracts are caused by normal changes in your eyes as you get older. When you're young, the lens in your eye is clear. Around age 40, the proteins in the lens of your eye start to break down and clump together. This clump makes a cloudy area on your lens — or a cataract.
What was cataract in history?
Cataracts may actually be one of the first ailments people attempted to treat surgically. Our earliest records of it date back to 600 BC. In those days, they used something called the “couching” technique, which involved smacking the eye with a blunt object until the lens dislodged entirely.
What are the only two rivers in the world that flow north?
Johns River and the Nile River are the only two rivers in the world that flow north." In this editorial he explains that there are hundreds of rivers that flow north and; in fact, the St. Johns River flows south as well.
How deep is the Nile river at its deepest point?
It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum….
| Nile | |
|---|---|
| • maximum | 2.8 km (1.7 mi) |
| Depth | |
| • average | 8–11 m (26–36 ft) |
| Discharge |
Are piranhas in the Nile?
Known as the “piranha of Africa,” the giant tigerfish is one of several fish species that makes its home in the Nile. Their large, razor-like teeth and strong jaws make these fish vicious carnivores.
Why are there no crocodiles in the Nile river?
Construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1960 has pushed their nests towards man-made Lake Nasser. Because our Authentic Nile Cruises embark from Luxor and cease in Aswan there is little chance a ravenous croc will present itself.
How many cataracts are in the Nile river?
six The Atbara river has less of an impact, as it flows only occasionally. In the south, the Nile has a series of six main cataracts, which begin at the site of Aswan. A cataract is a shallow stretch of turbulent waters formed where flowing waters encounter resistant rock layers.
How many cataracts does the river Nile have?
For the 800 miles from the sixth cataract to Lake Nasser, the riverbed alternates between gentle stretches and series of rapids. Outcropping crystalline rocks that cross the course of the Nile cause the five famous cataracts.
What are black lands?
The Egyptians called their country Kemet, literally the "Black Land" (kem meant "black" in ancient Egyptian). The name derived from the colour of the rich and fertile black soil which was due to the annually occurring Nile inundation. So Kemet was the cultivated area along the Nile valley.
What was Egypt called before?
Kemet A popular ancient name for Egypt was "Kemet," which means the "black land." Scholars generally believe that this name derived from the fertile soil that was left over when the Nile flood receded in August.
What is the reason for cataract?
Most cataracts are caused by normal changes in your eyes as you get older. When you're young, the lens in your eye is clear. Around age 40, the proteins in the lens of your eye start to break down and clump together. This clump makes a cloudy area on your lens — or a cataract.
What is beneath Niagara Falls?
0:565:42This Is What Scientists Found at the Bottom of the Niagara Falls That …YouTube
What is a cataract in history?
Cataracts may actually be one of the first ailments people attempted to treat surgically. Our earliest records of it date back to 600 BC. In those days, they used something called the “couching” technique, which involved smacking the eye with a blunt object until the lens dislodged entirely.