EUREKA!
Archimedes' legendary discovery of buoyancy that changed science forever
The Story Behind the Discovery
According to legend, King Hiero II of Syracuse suspected that a goldsmith had cheated him by replacing some of the gold in his crown with silver. He asked Archimedes to determine if the crown was pure gold without damaging it.
While taking a bath, Archimedes noticed that the water level rose as he entered the tub. He realized that the volume of water displaced was equal to the volume of his submerged body. Excited by this revelation, he reportedly ran naked through the streets shouting "Eureka!" (Greek for "I have found it!").
He then used this principle to test the crown's purity by comparing its displacement to that of pure gold. The crown displaced more water than an equal weight of gold, proving it had been adulterated with less dense silver.
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