Lake

A lake is a large amount of water that has stopped. A river is still going somewhere; a lake has arrived, and does not wish to discuss the journey.^[1]

Lakes are smaller than the ocean and larger than a pond, and the difference between a lake and a pond has occupied hydrologists for longer than most ponds have existed.

Definition

Under the Stone Test of 1926, a body of water is a lake if a person standing on one shore throws a stone into it and cannot see the ripples reach the far side. If they can, it is a pond. If the stone hits the bottom before the water, it is a puddle, and the person should be more careful where they stand.^[2]

The Test was suspended in 1931 after the Lake Commission ran out of stones.

Edges

A lake locates its shore by establishing where it is not wet. Everything wet is lake, and everything dry is not lake, with the exception of ducks, which are classified as "lake, temporarily" and reclassified on landing.^[3]

Recreation

• Stone skimming, which is the lake's main source of new stones.
• Swimming. In summer a lake is warm at the top and cold at the feet, a layering known to scientists as the thermocline and to swimmers as "the bit where you change your mind".
• Looking at it, which is what most lakes are for.

See also

• River – a lake that hasn't arrived yet
• Puddle – a lake that is not trying
• Water – what a lake is mostly made of
• Dead Sea – technically a lake, still called a sea
• Panama Canal – a canal that goes through one

References

1. Mere, M. (1926). Ponds, Lakes and Where to Throw. Shoreline Press.
2. Lake Commission (1931). "Suspension of the Stone Test". Out of stones.
3. Drake, D. (2010). "Temporary Lake: The Classification of Ducks". Wetland Law 2.