ARCHIMEDES' PRINCIPLE

ARCHIMEDES' PRINCIPLE

Students of physics are frequently told

Of experiments performed by great physicists of old

Like Boyles and Charles -- but greatest of these

Was the Principle discovered by Archimedes.

The Sicilian King, Archimedes was told,

Ordered a crown from a large lump of gold,

And though the weight of the gold was completely correct,

The goldsmith's eye made the King suspect

That he'd made up the weight with some cheaper metal

And stolen some gold, that his debts he might settle.

His problem was then of outstanding immensity

As he had no idea, whatsoever, of density.

Climbing into a bath he received a surprise

When he noticed the water beginning to rise.

He suddenly snapped, and let out a scream,

As he realised, with joy, his long-wished-for dream.

He found the upthrust, produced on a body's base*,

To be equal in weight to the water displaced,

And soon volumes and weights would make it quite plain

What various metals the crown could contain,

And so he could easily show to his Royalty

The absolute proof of the goldsmith's disloyalty.

Leaping out of the bath at remarkable rate,

He made for the palace by doorway and gate --

But the men in the street were completely confounded

To see a naked man shout "Eureka! I've found it!"

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