How did Archimedes determine the amount of gold in the king’s crown? He melted down the crown and measured the gold. He developed and tested the hypothesis that water would be displaced by an equal volume of gold. He developed the Pythagorean theorem to measure the gold. He used mathematics to measure the gold.
Added by Ryan C.
Step 1
He knew that the crown's weight was equal to the weight of the gold that was supposed to be used in its creation. Show more…
Show all steps
Close
Your feedback will help us improve your experience
Sri K and 73 other Algebra educators are ready to help you.
Ask a new question
Labs
Want to see this concept in action?
Explore this concept interactively to see how it behaves as you change inputs.
Key Concepts
Recommended Videos
According to legend, the following challenge led Archimedes to the discovery of his famous principle: Hieron, king of Syracuse, was suspicious that a new crown that he had received from the royal goldsmith was not pure gold, as claimed. Archimedes was ordered to determine whether the crown was in fact made of pure gold, with the condition that only a nondestructive test would be allowed. Rather than answer the problem in the politically most expedient way (or perhaps extract a bribe from the goldsmith), Archimedes thought about the problem scientifically. The legend relates that when Archimedes stepped into his bath and caused it to overflow, he realized that he could answer the challenge by comparing the volume of water displaced by the crown with the volume of water displaced by an amount of pure gold equal in weight to the crown. If the crown was made of pure gold, the two volumes would be equal. If some other (less dense) metal had been substituted for some of the gold, then the crown would displace more water than the pure gold. A similar method of answering the challenge, based on the same physical principle, is to compute the ratio of the actual weight of the crown, Wactual, and the apparent weight of the crown when it is submerged in water, Wapparent. See whether you can follow in Archimedes' footsteps. The figure shows what is meant by weighing the crown while it is submerged in water. Take the density of the crown to be ρc. What is the ratio of the crown's apparent weight (in water) Wapparent to its actual weight Wactual?
Sri K.
In the third century B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes is said to have discovered an important principle that is useful in density determinations. The story told is that King Hiero of Syracuse (in Sicily) asked Archimedes to verify that an ornate crown made for him by a goldsmith consisted of pure gold and not a gold-silver alloy. Archimedes had to do this, of course, without damaging the crown in any way. Describe how Archimedes did this, or if you don't know the rest of the story, rediscover Archimedes's principle and explain how it can be used to settle the question.
In the third century $\mathrm{BC}$, the Greek mathematician Archimedes is said to have discovered an important principle that is useful in density determinations. The story told is that King Hiero of Syracuse (in Sicily) asked Archimedes to verify that an ornate crown made for him by a goldsmith consisted of pure gold and not a gold-silver alloy. Archimedes had to do this, of course, without damaging the crown in any way. Describe how Archimedes did this, or if you don't know the rest of the story, rediscover Archimedes's principle and explain how it can be used to settle the question.
Recommended Textbooks
Elementary and Intermediate Algebra
Algebra and Trigonometry
Transcript
18,000,000+
Students on Numerade
Trusted by students at 8,000+ universities
Watch the video solution with this free unlock.
EMAIL
PASSWORD