Question for the day

[newbiediver]

Yes but relative to our position in space water can only flow downhill! If it does go up hill it is not flowing it is being atrracted by the gravity of an outer earthly object! 

[MAXFACTOR]

GRUMPIE,,,,,,

Thanks for sending me the answer.  Out of courtesy to you I haven't posted it, in an effort to keep your thread alive.

  I do think its time for you to post your answer.  Otherwise, the star trek fans will start to pipe in and we'll have alien reasons  why  the river flows. 

maxfactor

[ghosch]

I believe a more correct way of stating it would be that water always flows based on a pressure gradient from high to low.  The pressure gradient could be created by many means which could include topography, wind, velocity, tides (i.e. other celestial bodies), etc.  If the gradient caused by wind, gravity, etc. exceeded the gradient caused by topography, it could indeed flow "uphill." 

[jpreston]

The Earth is spherical, and so no direction is really more "up" or "down" than any other, no matter where you are on the planet.  And water (from which rivers are made, of course) cannot flow "up".  Water flows in only one direction: down.  The important thing to remember is that to a river, or more precisely to the drops of water that make up the river, "down" has nothing to do with compass points -- with latitude or longitude -- only with altitude. Water flows from higher altitudes to lower ones, and the river's channel has to be steep enough to overcome not only gravity and inertia, but also friction between water currents.  Otherwise, you get a lake.

[DiveCaptDean]

Yes...but where do rivers ALWAYS flow.

[jpreston]

Not really sure of the question then because they do not always flow to the ocean though most people think they do.

The only trick question or answer to the question is that they always "flow" downstream.