We visited the Falkirk Wheel last month! It lifts 500 tonnes 80ft into the air using only 1.5KWh of power (it's actually energy N•m/s).
Check out more facts here!
Check out more facts here!
1.5kWh of energy, not power.
And it’s not lifting 500 tons. Each bucket weighs 500 tons (regardless of boat or no boat, due to displacement physics), it is in almost perfect balance. The motor simply has to rotate the mechanism against frictional losses.
I'm a physicist, I know what you're saying, but I was writing casually and not in a technical manner. You're also technically wrong, even with zero friction, it wouldn't move. You have to overcome the inertia then bring it to rest.