Archimedes' principle states that a body immersed in a fluid experiences an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. It is attributed to Archimedes of Syracuse, the Greek mathematician and inventor of the third century BCE, who set out the idea in his work On Floating Bodies. A famous story, told by the Roman writer Vitruvius, says that he discovered it while in the bath, when he was trying to determine whether a crown made for King Hiero II was pure gold, and ran out shouting Eureka. Historians doubt that the story is true in detail. The principle explains why ships float and underlies the design of hydrometers, submarines and balloons.
Before and after
- from 264 BCE to 241 BCEFirst Punic War
- 261 BCEBattle of Agrigentum
- 259 BCEBirth of Qin Shi Huang
- 258 BCEBattle of Sulci
- 3rd century BCEArchimedes' principle
- c. 250s BCEThe Hebrew Torah is translated into Greek at Alexandria
- c. 250 BCEEruption of Raoul Island
- 248 BCEConstruction of Terracotta Army
- from 247 BCE to 224 CEParthian Empire
More in Science & technology
- 370 BCEDeath of Hippocrates
- 276 BCEBirth of Eratosthenes
- 63 BCEBirth of Strabo
- September 129 CEBirth of Galen
- 360 CEBirth of Hypatia
- 476 CEBirth of Aryabhata
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.