The Concept of Buoyancy
The concepts of buoyancy (water pushes up on an object with a force equal to the weight of water that the object displaces) and of levels (a force pushing down on one side of a lever creates a lifting on the other side that is proportional to the length of the two sides of the lever) lie at the foundation of all quantitative science and engineering.
In 260 BC 26 year Archimedes studied the two known sciences – astronomy and geometry.
One day Archimedes was distracted by four boys playing on the beach with a driftwood plank. They balanced the board over a waist – high rock. One boy straddled one end while his three friends jumped hard onto the other.
The lone boy was tossed into the air.
The boys slid the board off center along their balancing rock so that only one quarter of it remained on the short side.
Three of the boys climbed onto the short, top end. The fourth boy bounded onto the raising long end, crashing it back down to the sand and catapulting his three friends into the air.
Archimedes was fascinated. And he determined to understand the principles that so easily allowed a small weight (one boy) to lift a large weight (three boys).
The Concept of Buoyancy
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