Raj: Diya, have you ever heard of Archimedes and the King's Crown story?
Diya: No, what's that about?
Raj: Well, it's a story about a mathematician named Archimedes who was asked to determine if the crown of King Hiero was pure gold or not. The rumor was that a craftsman had substituted a quantity of silver for an equivalent amount of gold, thereby devaluing the crown and defrauding the king.
Diya: Oh, that's interesting. So, what did Archimedes do?
Raj: While he was considering the matter, he happened to go to the baths. When he went down into the bathing pool, he observed that the amount of water which flowed outside the pool was equal to the amount of his body that was immersed.
Diya: What does that have to do with the crown?
Raj: Well, since this fact indicated the method of explaining the case, he did not linger, but moved with delight. He leapt out of the pool and going home naked, cried aloud that he had found exactly what he was seeking. For as he ran he shouted in Greek: Eureka! Eureka!
Diya: 🤭Wait, so he ran home naked shouting "Eureka !"?
Raj: Yes, that's right. You see, when Archimedes got into the bath, he noticed that the water level rose as he got in and went down as he got out. He realized that the amount of water displaced was equal to the volume of his body. So, if he could measure the volume of the crown, he could determine if it was pure gold or not.
Diya: Wow, that's pretty smart of him.
Raj: Yes, it is. Archimedes then took the crown and immersed it in a tub of water and measured the amount of water displaced. He then repeated the process with a piece of pure gold of the same weight as the crown. He found that the amount of water displaced by the crown was greater than that displaced by the piece of gold, indicating that the crown was not pure gold.
Diya: So, did the king punish the craftsman?
Raj: Yes, the craftsman was punished, and the crown was restored to its proper value. And that's the story of Archimedes and the King's Crown.
Diya: 😀 Thanks for telling me that story, Raj. I never knew science could be so interesting and funny.
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