Difference Between River and Lake
Water, that covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, is present in the form of several water bodies that vary from being small shallow stagnant one to enormously vast, deep and fast flowing ones. A lake is the most common type of water body, which is bounded by land on all sides, and does not have any natural flow of water, while river is the name of fast flowing water along the lands that are preset on the either side of its flow.
In case of a river, the water flows down from higher level to lower level, while in case of a lake, no water movement is involved i.e a lake a kind of still water body, where the water remains stagnant and is not in a continuous flow. While the water of the river moves fast, finding as well as cutting its own way through the obstacles, a rough wind or certain surface disturbances might result in some movement in the water of a lake. A river is a sign of pure untouched aspect of nature, vibrant and uninhibited in flow, while a lake has a touch of artificiality to it. A lake has to be of an adequately larger size in order to be called as a lake. Surrounded by land on both sides, and having no connection to any other larger water body, a lake should cover a minimum of two to five hectares of area, because smaller than that, any water body will be regarded as a pond. A river on the other hand can be called so, if it has free flowing waters along a naturals course and if empties itself ultimately in a larger water body, which maybe a sea, or an ocean, or a larger river, or even a lake,irrespective of the fact whether it is large or small.
Rivers have landmasses only on their either sides, and are known as the banks of it. They originate from the glaciers, on top of high mountains, and end in the sea naturally, following its own path through different hurdles.
It is known that from the very old times, lakes were artificially created in order to assist in the irrigation, and nowadays, they are also constructed for the purpose of producing hydro electricity. However, frequent construction of Dams across the rivers are known, in order to assist mankind in some activities for the other, that are all for their own. More and more artificial lakes have come into existence these days, which is nothing but a result of man’s need as well as hunger for producing Hydro-electricity.