Eureka - I found it !
Who Is Archimedes ?
Archimedes of Syracuse, was a Greek physicist, engineer, inventor, mathematician and astronomer. Born in 287 BC in the city of Syracuse in Sicily, was well known for his discoveries and inventions in the fields he worked in.
Some of Archimedes notable work :
- Archimedes' principle
- Archimedes' screw
- Claw of Archimedes
- Heat ray
Illustration of Archimedes when he discovered the law of buoyancy
How Taking A Bath Led To Archimedes' Principle!
It all started on a day, where the king of Sicily wanted to know if he had been cheated by a goldsmith. So the king wanted to see Archimedes in order to know the truth. The king told Archimedes what happened. The king gave the goldsmith an exact amount of gold so he would be able to make a crown of gold for him. After a while, when the crown was ready and given to the king, he suspected that the goldsmith cheated, and did not use the exact amount of gold given by the king, beside that, the king wanted to know if he putted some silver in the crown while keeping the rest of the gold for himself. So the king wanted Archimedes to solve the problem for him, he has to know if the crown is made with the exact amount of gold given by the king without containing any other metal. But it was difficult since Archimedes couldn't do any damage to the crown. Archimedes tried to solve the problem but he couldn't. One day, while talking a bath, Archimedes noticed that the level of water in the bathtub will rise up and overflow when he immerse himself into the water. He then realized that how much water was displaced depends on how much of his body was immersed. Archimedes was so exited for his discovery that he ran naked through the streets shouting "Eureka!", which means "I found it" in the ancient Greek. Archimedes could finally solve the king problem. Archimedes wanted to give the crown a bath.
A statue of Archimedes in his bathtub that demonstrates the principle of the buoyant force
By placing the crown in the water and seeing how much water was displaced, Archimedes could be able to measure the crown volume. Why would that help him ? Because it is not easy to calculate the crown volume, since it has an irregular shape unlike circles and squares. So by placing the crown into the water, Archimedes could measure its volume. After measuring the volume of the crown, Archimedes have to measure its mass, and finally he could be able to calculate the density of the crown which is equal to mass over volume. Why would Archimedes calculate the density of the crown ? By knowing it's density, Archimedes would be able to compare it to the density of pure gold, so he would finally solve the king's problem and know if the goldsmith cheated the king. Beside that, Archimedes know that gold is a lot more denser than silver so if his calculations are correct he would know if the crown is composed of pure gold. Archimedes went to the king and made the test, and it shows that the goldsmith has cheated the king and he found that the crown contained some silver in it.
This discovery is known today as Archimedes' Principle and you could see it everywhere in our everyday life !
Archimedes' Principle
In the two books, "On Floating Bodies" written by Archimedes of Syracuse around 250 BC he said :
Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a stationary fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
Archimedes' principle is used in many engineering problems nowadays and it let us know how ships float on the water. Buoyancy is the upward force that Archimedes' principle describe.
A page from "Floating Bodies"
Archimedes' Death
Archimedes was murdered in 212 B.C. by a Roman officer that was waiting Archimedes to finish a work, but the Roman officer lost his patience and stabbed him to death.
References :
Archimedes' Principle Discovery
Image Sources : 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6