THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

Thank You Archimedes

Carlee Clayson
Salt Lake Community College
Physics 1010-15

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

Thank You Archimedes

Would our world be what it is today without the many insightful discoveries from
Archimedes? He has been called one of the greatest mathematical physicists of all time. We
can hardly go a day in our modern lives without utilizing one or more of Archimedes
discoveries. Let me share with you a few of Archimedes discoveries, and how I discovered
them.
Archimedes was a problem solver. Around 250 BC, the king of Syracuse, King Hieron II,
wanted to have a new crown created. He provided the goldsmith with solid gold out of which the
crown was to be made. When the king received his new crown he was suspicious that the crown
wasnt made solely of gold, but that the goldsmith had mixed a small amount of gold with a
cheaper metal (such as silver), and then kept the rest of the gold for himself. The king, not
knowing how to prove his suspicions, asked Archimedes to help him prove his theory to be true.
Archimedes agreed to help the king but didnt know how he would go about proving the
kings theory. But he was determined to solve the problem. It wasnt until one night when he
decided to take a bath and he immersed his body into the water, causing the bath tub to overflow, that the solution came to him. He realized that he could measure the crown's volume by the
amount of water it displaced. He knew that if he divided the weight of an object by the volume of
water displaced, he would know the density of the object. All he had to do, was to prove it.
He began his experiment by weighing the crown, a block of gold, and a block of silver.
He then, carefully immersed each item into a tub of water and measured the amount of water that
was displaced. He then structured the formula, density is equal to mass divided by volume, and
found that the Kings new crown was less dense then the block of gold the goldsmith was given to
create the crown, thus proving the suspicions of the King to be true.

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

I remember, when I was younger, my grandmother teaching me how to measure solid

butter that my grandparents had produced from their own cows. She taught me that the easiest
and cleanest way to measure half a cup of butter was to fill a two-cup measuring container to the
cup and a half mark. She then would have me put scoops of butter, a little at a time, into the
container of water until the water level rose to the two cup mark. We would then pour out the
water, and what remained would be a cup of butter. Little did I know that at that young age,
my grandmother was teaching me a principle of physics. Thank you Archimedes.
Archimedes was also the mastermind behind the Archimedean Screw. The Archimedean
screw is a simple mechanical device used to lift water from a lower level to a higher level. The
Screw itself consists of a, cylinder helix, a spiral fitted inside a cylinder that is open on both sides
creating a continuous screw. In order to make the screw pull up the water, you would place the
lower end of the device under water at a slant (usually at a 45 degree angle). You would then turn
the handle that is attached to the helix and the water level would begin to rise as the water passes
through the spiral chamber to reach the next level. Archimedes originally created the
Archimedean screw to be used for irrigation in the Nile delta, and for pumping water out of
ships.
On the dairy farm, where my father grew up, he was telling me about the augers they
used to move grain from trucks to silos. They were patterned after the Archimedes screw. No one
thought this had anything to do with physics, only that it helped to make work on the farm much
easier then carrying the grain to the top of the silo. My dad thanks you Archimedes.
According to Greek and Roman historians, around 212 BC, the city of
Syracuse was being attacked by the Romans. The people of Syracuse were
not equipped with the proper weaponry to protect their land so they turned

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

to Archimedes to develop a way to defend their land from the Romans.

Archimedes developed a number of different ways to insure that the Romans
would be unable to get from their boats to the land of Syracuse; the
Archimedes claw, death ray, catapults and stone throwers.
For the Archimedes death ray, he instructed the soldiers of Syracuse to polish their
shields until they shone like glass. Archimedes positioned the soldiers along the coast line where
the Roman ships were coming in. The sun reflected off of the many number of soldiers shields,
onto a single spot on the Romans ships and caused them to catch fire (Clark, J, 2015)
(Suttleworth, M). However controversial, the death ray has recently been proven to be very
possible.
Interestingly enough, when I was growing up, I remember being outside with my three
older brothers, ages 7, 9, and 11, who had gathered themselves into a huddle. One of them was
holding a magnifying glass and was bent over the sidewalk. When I walked up to them and asked
what they were doing, their response was that they were cooking ants. To a 5 year old, this was
horrific, and I ran inside to tell my mom YUCK!! No thanks Archimedes
As stated before, Archimedes had many ways of keeping the Romans
from invading the land of Syracuse. Archimedes designed catapults and
stone throwers to launch rocks, timbers and other heavy objects over the
great distance between the city walls and moored enemy ships (Barrington,
K. 2012).
Dinner was always an event growing up. I was the baby of the family and the only girl, so
I was an easy target. My three older brothers were forever lovingly teasing me. One evening

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

while slowly eating my peas, I found my quiet revenge. I discovered that if I filled my spoon
with peas, rested it on the edge of my plate, and then hit the handle of the spoon, the peas would
fly across the table. Who would have thought that a simple act like this would have caused such
chaos. FOOD FIGHT I win! Thanks Archimedes.
From 200 BC to 2015 AD it is amazing how the influence of one person could have
touched the lives of so many generations. All areas of our lives such as travel, shipping, farming,
mechanics, mathematics, cooking, military, and everything in between have been influenced,
whether large or small, by the problem solving tenacity of Archimedes. Archimedes once said,
give me a place to stand, and I will move the world there is no doubt, that by his sheer
existence and his mental fortitude our world has definitely been moved.

Thank you Archimedes

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

References
Archimedes (2012, January 1). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from
http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/People/Archimedes/
Archimedes (2014). Famous Scientists. famousscientists.org. 1 Jul. 2014. Web. 2/26/2015
http://www.famousscientists.org/archimedes
Archimedes Discoveries and Inventions. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from
http://archimedesjack.weebly.com/discoveries-and-inventions.html
Archimedes in the 21st Century. (3013, May 31). Retrieved from
https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~crorres/Archimedes/contents.html
Archimedes' Principle. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from
http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/archimedes/principle.htm
Archimedes Screw. (2013, January 1). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from
http://www.innovateus.net/invention/archimedes-screw
Barrington, K. (2012, August 2). Archimedes War Machines: The Giant Claw, Catapults, and
Death Ray. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/historyhomework-help/93105-archimedes-war-machines/
Clark, J. (2015). What was Archimedes' death ray? - HowStuffWorks. Retrieved March 1, 2015,
from http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/archimedes-death-ray.htm
Hassani, S. (2010). From Heaven to Earth - The Ancient Physics. In <i>From Atoms to Galaxies
- A Conceptual Physics Approach to Scientific Awareness</i> (p. 49). Boca Raton,
Florida: Taylor & Francis Group.

THANK YOU ARCHIMEDES

The Archimedes Palimpsest. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from

http://archimedespalimpsest.org/about/history/archimedes.php
Suttleworth, M. War Machines of Archimedes. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from
https://explorable.com/archimedes-war-machines
Toomer, G. (2014, October 30). Archimedes | biography - Greek mathematician. Retrieved
March 1, 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32808/Archimedes
Who Was Archimedes? (2003, July 1). Retrieved March 4, 2015, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archimedes/lrk_biography.html