Torricelli's theorem

Torricelli's theorem

The speed of efflux of a liquid from an opening in a reservoir equals the speed that the liquid would acquire if allowed to fall from rest from the surface of the reservoir to the opening.

Torricelli, a student of Galileo, observed this relationship in 1643. In equation form, v2 = 2gh, in which v is the speed of efflux, h the head (or elevation difference between reservoir surface and center line of opening if in a vertical plane), and g the acceleration due to gravity. (The equation is the same as that for a solid particle dropped a distance h in a vacuum.) The relationship can be derived from the energy equation for flow along a streamline, if energy losses are neglected.