Conowingo Dam Dialogue: What Does Dynamic Equilibrium Mean Anyway?

At the center of the recently released Corps of Engineers Lower Susquehanna River Assessment findings last week was the report’s heavy reliance on a principle of physics known as dynamic equilibrium to explain the Dam’s ability to capture sediments and nutrients into the future. We suspect like most our readers, we seem to have deposited our knowledge of such laws of nature in the same dusty attic along with our high school textbooks, and therefore we thought it best to have a short tutorial on the concept.

Thanks to the good folks at Core School, a very short (30 seconds) explanation of dynamic equilibrium was available on YouTube.  We’ve repeated the lesson three times, just like in high school, to encourage retention. You never know when there might be a pop quiz.