Archimedes of Syracuse

Archimedes of Syracuse (c. 287BC- c. 212 BC) - was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He was one of the greatest of mathematicians.Archimedes was born c. 287 BC in the seaport city of Syracuse, Sicily, at that time a self-governing colony in Magna Graecia.

The Archimedes Screw

The Archimedes screw can raise water efficiently.

A large part of Archimedes' work in engineering arose from fulfilling the needs of his home city of Syracuse. The Greek writer described how King Hieron II commissioned Archimedes to design a huge ship, the Syracusia, which could be used for luxury travel, carrying supplies, and as a naval warship. It was capable of carrying 600 people and included garden decorations, a gymnasium and a temple. Since a ship of this size would leak a considerable amount of water through the hull, the Archimedes screw was developed in order to remove the bilge water. Archimedes' machine was a device with a revolving screw-shaped blade inside a cylinder. It was turned by hand, and could also be used to transfer water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation canals. The Archimedes screw is still in use today for pumping liquids and granulated solids such as coal and grain. The Archimedes screw described in.

Archimedes' Principle:

A gold crown for had been made for King Hiero II, who had supplied the pure gold to be used, and Archimedes was asked to determine whether some silver had been substituted by the dishonest goldsmith. The weight of the crown was known,but it had irregular shape.Archimedes thought about this problem every day.While taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water in the tub rose as he got in, and realized that this effect could be used to determine the volume of the crown. According to the legend Archimedes ran at the street naked and he was crying "Eureka!".The test was conducted successfully, proving that silver had indeed been mixed in.