Archimedes was a wise man who lived in Greece long, long ago. He was so wise that even the king was his friend.
One day the king asked him, "How do you 1ike my new crown It's all gold." The king stopped. "That is, I think it's all gold," he said, "I gave a man gold to make this crown. But I think he may have kept some of it. To make up for what he took, he may have added silver."
"You are a wise man," the king went on, "Find out if this crown is all gold. That way I will know if the man kept some of my gold."
Archimedes thought about the crown for a long time. Then, one day he had an idea. He thought of it as he stepped into his bath. He saw that the water ran out over the sides.
"Eureka!" he yelled. (That means "I've got it!" in Greek.) He hopped out of his bath. He ran all the way to the king's home. It is said that he did not even dress.
Why was he so excited Wel1, the bathwater showed him something. Now he knew how to tell if the crown was made only of gold.
Archimedes asked the king for a piece of gold." It must be the same size as the one you gave the man," he said. Then he filled a pan with water. In it he put the piece of gold. The water rose. He then took the gold out. He put the crown in the pan. The water rose even higher than before. That should not have happened! The crown and the piece of gold should have taken up the same space in the pan. Something had been added to the crown. It may have been silver. It may have been something else. But the crown was not a1l gold.
Archimedes's idea was so clever that it is still used today. And he went on to learn many other things. But he sometimes got his ideas in strange places.