Archimedes Blog

SUNDAY, 265 BC - So, a couple days ago, my cousin Hiero (you remember him, right? the king of Syracuse?). So anyhow, a few days ago he came to me for help. Whatever, just because I'm good at math doesn't mean I know how to figure out if someone is lying. Hiero told me that he was so excited about becoming king that he ordered a golden crown to put on a statue in the temple. The crown is beautiful, but Hiero is hearing rumors that the goldsmith replaced some of the gold with an equal weight of silver and now Hiero wants me to figure out how to tell if the goldsmith cheated him without messing up the crown. I've been thinking about it non-stop for days, not eating, not sleeping, not bathing, and I still don't know what to do.

WEDNESDAY, 265 BC - Apparently the not bathing is catching up with me. I still haven't figured out the crown issue, but people tell me I smell pretty bad, so I am heading out to the public baths to get cleaned up.

THURSDAY, 265 BC - The craziest thing happened yesterday! I went to take a bath, and as I got in the water I noticed that some of the water was pushed out of the pool. I realized that while the weight of the gold and silver was the same, they don't take up the same amount of space and I can figure out their volume by putting them in a full pot of water and seeing how much water is pushed out. I was so excited that I ran all the way home, NAKED and yelling "Eureka"! I got a piece of silver and a piece of gold the same weight as the crown and I measured how much water they pushed out of a full pot and I compared that to the crown and Hiero was right, the goldsmith was a thief. I wouldn't want to be him when Hiero catches up to him.

Archimedes article at Simple English Wikipedia

In depth Archimedes info from Drexel University