Archimedes’ principle explains buoyancy: a body in a liquid is subject to upward forces equal to the fluid it displaces. Archimedes discovered this in the 3rd century BC and also invented devices for science and warfare. A legend tells of him discovering the principle by testing a crown’s composition in a bath, leading him to shout “Eureka!” and run naked through the streets.
Archimedes’ principle describes a law of physics concerning how fluids interact with a solid body in their midst. It is, basically, the concept of buoyancy: a body immersed in a liquid will be subject to upward forces equal to the fluid it displaces. This upward force is known as buoyancy and is what keeps ships, people and objects afloat.
In addition to being an early discovery in the study of physics, Archimedes’ principle also spawned a colorful story that is still being told more than two millennia later. No contemporary accounts of Archimedes’ life survive, and this story may have been created by imaginative Roman-era historians. Galileo, writing in 1586, proposed that Archimedes could have achieved the same result in a slightly more scientific method.
Archimedes lived in Syracuse, a Greek colony in Italy, in the 3rd century BC He was one of the greatest scientists of antiquity, active in both theoretical and applied sciences. He invented devices for science and warfare and discovered the basic principles of mathematical calculation. While his inventions were better known than his theories during his lifetime, the opposite is true in modern times. The discovery of Archimedes’ principle is one of the best-known stories of this great thinker.
According to a legend told by the Roman historian Vitruvius, the king of Syracuse challenged Archimedes to find out if a crown was really made of solid gold, or if other metals had been added, as he suspected. Archimedes spent some time considering the problem, because he could not melt or otherwise damage the crown to analyze its composition. The solution came in a flash as he settled into a full bath and realized that the water displaced from the tub equaled the mass of his body. In a moment of inspiration, it is said, he knew he could solve the problem by dipping the crown. If it displaced less water than an equivalent amount of gold, it contained other metals.
Archimedes was said to have been so elated at this discovery that he left his home, running naked through the streets of Syracuse shouting, “Eureka!” This Greek word means “I have found it” and is still used in modern times to mean a moment of enlightenment or discovery. The popular legend of Archimedes’ Principle illustrates, and may have helped establish, the common perception of the inattentive scientist who values knowledge and theory over social niceties such as clothing.
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