Rills cannot form on every surface, and their formation is intrinsically connected to the steepness of the hillside slope. Gravity determines the force of the water, which provides the power required to start the erosional environment necessary to create rills. Therefore, the formation of rills is primarily controlled by the slope of the hillside. Slope controls the depth of the rills, while the length of the slope and the soil's permeability control the number of incisions in an area. Each type of soil has a threshold value, a slope angle below which water velocity cannot produce sufficient force to dislodge enough soil particles for rills to form. For instance, on many non-cohesive slopes, this threshold value hovers around an angle of 2 degrees with a shear velocity between 3 and 3.5 cm/s.