Archimedes Of Syracuse Essay

Archimedes of Syracuse

Background

Archimedes was born in the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily in 287 BC. He was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, engineer, inventor, and weapons-designer. Archimedes received his formal education in Alexandria, Egypt which at the time was considered to be the 'intellectual centre' of the world. He was a man both from his time and far ahead of his time. Principle

Archimedes discovered many theorems in mechanics. His most famous one was named after him, ‘Archimedes’ Principle’, it gives the weight of a body immersed in a liquid. Archimedes, in this theorem stated that ‘any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the

This allowed the people to build bigger structures, before this people would have resulted to brute force to lift objects.

Inventions

The Screw

Archimedes invented an item called ‘the water-screw’. It is still in use in Egypt, for irrigation, draining marshy land and pumping out water from the bilges of ships.

The Archimedes‘ Screw is made up of a screw like spiral inside a hollow pipe with open ends. The screw is turned usually by a windmill or by manual labor. As the bottom end of the tube turns, it scoops up a volume of water. This amount of water will slide up in the spiral tube as the shaft is turned, until it finally pours out from the top of the tube. It was originally invented to scoop water out of the holds of ships.

The Claw

The claw was an ancient weapon used to defend the seaward walls of Syracuse from amphibious attacks. Barrington, K. (2012) stated that a giant claw attached to a chain would be lowered and attached to the prow of the ship. Then, a giant lever was pressed down which would capsize the boat into the water. This invention was vital to the fortification of the city and laid a platform for future advances in the structural design of