ARCHIMEDES AND THE GOLDEN CROWN VIDEO FULL

Then he took a bar of pure gold of the same mass and compared the volume of spilled water to determine if crown is indeed made of pure gold. To find out the crown’s volume, Archimedes immersed the crown in a bucket filled with water to the brim, and measured the volume of the spilled water. He then reasoned that if the goldsmith had had indeed made a crown of pure gold, then the volume displaced should be the same as that of a bar of pure gold of the same mass. So he realized that if a certain amount of silver had been substituted for the same amount of gold, the crown would occupy a larger space compared to an identical amount of pure gold.

That’s because the silver was less dense than gold. Although both metals had the same mass, the silver had a larger volume therefore, it displaced more water than did the gold. Then he did the same thing with the piece of silver. He dropped the gold into a bowl filled to the brim with water and measured the volume of water that spilled out.

He first took a piece of gold and a piece of silver with exactly the same mass. Archimedes already knew that gold was denser than silver. Now, there must be a relationship between my volume and the volume of water that my body displaced-because if I weren’t so big, less water would have spilled on my floor.”Īrchimedes questioned- what if he put the crown in water? How much water would it displace? And could he apply this to prove that the crown was made of pure gold? He realized that the crown’s density was the key. “When I got into the tub,” Archimedes reasoned, “my body displaced a lot of water. But that mess triggered an idea that would help solve the king’s dilemma. He realized that he had made a real mess. He immediately noticed that the water splashed out of his bath tub onto the floor the moment he stepped into it, and the more he stepped into the tub, even more water got displaced out of the tub.

ARCHIMEDES AND THE GOLDEN CROWN VIDEO FULL

One day, while he was concentrating about this problem, he decided to take a bath in a tub full of water. He told the king he would need a few days to think about it. However, the king had no way of proving his suspicions, so he asked Archimedes to find out whether the crown was made from pure gold, without damaging the crown. The king thought the goldsmith had mixed some of the gold for the cheaper silver, while keeping the leftover gold. The king suspected that the goldsmith had cheated him. After goldsmith delivered the pure gold crown to the king, he was suspicious. After gaining the royal power, King Hieron II of Syracuse in Sicily gave a goldsmith a bar of gold to make it into a crown.

Archimedes's tale takes place some 2,250 years ago. Archimedes is still regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. He died in 212 BC when the Romans invaded Syracuse. Here’s a closer look into this sudden discovery (the “Eureka!” moment): The famous Greek mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse, a Greek colony in Sicily (an island now part of Italy). He was the first to realize that the number Pi features in the formula for the circumference of the circle, the area of the circle, and the volume and area of the sphere (notably, he determined an accurate estimation of the value of Pi). Archimedes went on to make a number of important contributions in science and mathematics. Supposedly, Archimedes was so thrilled and excited with this discovery that he immediately hopped out of the bath and ran onto the streets to tell the king, shouting loudly 'Eureka! Eureka!' (I have found it! I have found it!), in delight. One of the oldest and well-known tale revolves around Archimedes' legendary “Eureka!” moment while taking a bath in a tub, when he made a remarkable discovery, what is now known as the Archimedes Principle. Science is all about facts and discoveries, with some of the remarkable breakthroughs coming from seemingly everyday occurrences and experiences. Development, Alumni Relations & Special Events Staff.

Archimedes and the golden crown video