What Would Happen If Niagara Falls Were Funneled Through a Straw

As part of their ongoing “What If?” series, Randall Munroe of xkcd and Henry Reich of MinutePhysics answered a viewer’s question as to what would happen if a person tried to defy all physics and funnel Niagara Falls through a straw. The answer was that not much good would happen and a lot of people would be very pissed off.

This question comes from David, who asks: what would happen if one tried to  funnel Niagara Falls through a straw? The short answer is: one would get in trouble with the International Niagara Committee, the International Niagara Board of Control,  the International Joint Commission, the International Niagara Board Working Committee, and probably the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence  River Adaptive Management Committee. Also, the Earth would be destroyed.