Velocity head

Imagine you are at a water park, and you’re going down a slide. The higher the slide is above the ground, the faster you go down the slide. That’s because you have something called "potential energy," which is like having energy stored up because of your position (in this case, being high up on the slide).

Now, imagine instead of you going down, the water itself is flowing down a slide. As the water flows down, it gains something called "kinetic energy," which means that it’s moving faster due to the force of gravity.

But, the water also encounters other forces as it flows, like friction or resistance from the sides of the slide. These forces slow the water down.

The "velocity head" is a way to measure how fast the water is flowing despite these forces. It’s like a measure of how much energy the water has in its movement, despite any resistance it encounters.

So, if you want to think about velocity head like you’re 5 years old: it’s a way of measuring how much energy the water has to keep moving, even if it encounters things that might slow it down.