Sicily is a big island near
Italy; and many Greeks lived there long ago. One of the Greeks was a man named
Archimedes, a famous thinker and inventor.
At
that time, there lived a king in Sicily who wanted a new crown. So, he gave
some gold to a goldsmith and asked him to make one for him.
Now
the king’s goldsmith took the gold which he had been given and set to work.
Very soon his work was finished, and the crown was made. Then he took the new
crown to the king.
The
king looked at the crown and then he had it weighed. He was afraid that the
goldsmith might have cheated him. Had he
used all the gold for making the crown, or had he perhaps kept some for
himself?
Well,
the crown was weighted. Its weight was just the same weight as the gold which
the king had given to the goldsmith. But had it been mixed with some other metal?
What was to be done?
“Let
me see,” said the king to himself. “I think I will ask that clever Archimedes.”
Archimedes
however did not know. But he began to think very hard indeed. He was still
thinking when he stepped into his bath one day. The bathtub was very full, and
as he stepped into it the water flowed out. Archimedes suddenly jumped out
again.
“Eureka!
I’ve found it!” he cried, and ran through the streets just as he was, without
clothes! He was overjoyed. He had found the answer to the king’s question – he
was going to measure the amount of gold in the crown in a new way.
The
clever Greek brought some gold to measure. It weighted exactly as much as the
gold which the king had first given to his goldsmith. He then filled a bathtub to
the top. He put in the gold, and then measured the water that flowed out. After
that he took out the gold and filled the bath tub again. Then he put in the new
crown. More water came out this time, because the crown took up more room than
the gold had done. This showed that it was not made only of gold. The goldsmith
had mixed some cheaper metal with it.
And
so the king got his answer.
Archimedes
invented a great many other wonderful things, besides this new way of measuring
metals. Some of his inventions are useful even today.
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