Torricelli’s law v=√2gh

A commented translation on its origin in the De Motu Aquarum (On the Movement of the Waters)

Abstract

We present a translation with commentary of De Motu Aquarum (1644), where Torricelli presents the developments that became consolidated in his famous law v=√2gh that allows the determination of the efflux velocity v of a liquid jet under the gravity g, issuing from a small orifice in a vessel, for which the vertical distance up to the free surface of the water in the vessel is h.