1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Aloha and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and a lot of all things tech. And 5 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: as you listen to this, I am sipping on a 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: Virgin my tai and Honolulu, Hawaii, enjoying a week of vacation. 7 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: But uh, in order to take that vacation, it meant 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: that I had to cut some stuff short, including my 9 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,720 Speaker 1: research and writing of new episodes. So today we're actually 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 1: going to listen to a tech Stuff classic episode. This 11 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: classic episode is a true oldie but goody originally published 12 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: back on June two thousand eleven. It features my original 13 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: co host, Chris Palette, the voice of tech Stuff back 14 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: in those days. And the episode is titled Eureka ar Comedes. 15 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: And so this episode is all about the wonderful philosopher 16 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 1: inventor Archimedes and what he did and maybe didn't do. 17 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: Let's listen in we are going to concentrate on a genius, 18 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: mathematical genius and inventor, one of the one of the greats. Really, yeah, 19 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: we are. And in the past we have talked about 20 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: many fascinating people in tech. Uh, most of whom lived 21 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: in the twenty and twenty one centuries. Today, we're going 22 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: back a bit farther, Yeah, to the point of of 23 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: two seven BC would be the the year that this 24 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: fellow was born. And we are talking about Archimedes, Yes, 25 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: the developer of the t R S A D. I'm kidding. 26 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: He's definitely a precursor to that. Um. Yes, we're not 27 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: talking Texas instruments, we're talking Greek ones. So Archimedes was 28 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: a mathematician, he was an astronomer, he was an engineer 29 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: and inventor. Very clever fellow. I guess that would probably 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: be an understatement. Oh yes, one of the fathers of calculus, 31 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: not not the calculus that we used today, but precursor again. Uh, well, 32 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:12,919 Speaker 1: we've talked about it a lot in in the past 33 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: two We've talked about the principle of simultaneous discovery, where 34 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,799 Speaker 1: people more than one person comes up with the same idea. 35 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: We've also talked about how people to have discoveries build 36 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: on other people's work. And Archimedes was definitely a founder 37 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: of many many of our technologies. Yeah, you would call 38 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: him the father of integral calculus, not not the same 39 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: thing as new calculus um, which is of course much 40 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: later on. So and and Chris has already made mention 41 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: of one of the famous quotes attributed to Archimedes, which is, 42 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: give me a place to stand, and I will move 43 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: the earth. And it sounds like something that a megalomaniacal 44 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: supervillain would say, But in this case, Archimedes is talking 45 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: about the discoveries he made and what we would call 46 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: basic mechanical structures now, things like pulleys and levers. In 47 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: that case, we're talking specifically about leavers. But Archimedes really 48 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: was interested in the relationship of pulleys leavers and how 49 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: they could be used to do work, and he spent 50 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: quite a bit of time perfecting that, so much so 51 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: that there are certain inventions that are are associated with 52 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,119 Speaker 1: him that are related in some form to simple machines, 53 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: although not all of those inventions are necessarily straight from 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: uh from archimedes brain. But we're gonna talk a little 55 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: bit about some of the things that he did do, 56 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: and then some of the things that are attributed to 57 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: him that perhaps he did not do or perhaps just 58 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: didn't work. There's one in Petaler. That's pretty famous due 59 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: to a MythBusters episode that we'll get to. It's one 60 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: of my favorites actually. Now Archimedes Archimedes, his dad was 61 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: an astronomer, so he was growing up and he was 62 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 1: exposed to the sciences. Um, he was probably taught by 63 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: followers of you lid and uh he was. You know, 64 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: what we know of him is mostly from stuff that 65 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: was written well after his death, and because of that 66 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: we can't be completely certain about the details of his life. 67 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: In fact, there's still some confusion about exactly when he died. 68 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,119 Speaker 1: It was sometime around two dred twelve or two hundred 69 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,359 Speaker 1: eleven b C. He was born in two eight seven 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: b C. Remember we count backwards right, probably confused the 71 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: heck out of them at the time. What are we 72 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: coming down to? So yeah, so, so he died around 73 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: two twelve to eleven b C. And you might ask, well, 74 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: how did Archimedes die? How did Archimedes die? Violently? Unfortunately 75 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 1: it was during a sacking of Syracuse, which is that 76 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: was archimedes home. He lived in Syracuse in Sicily and 77 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: at the time was an independent Greek city state before 78 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: it was you know, physically uprooted and moved to New York. Yes, no, yes, 79 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: not exactly what happened. Um Now, now the original original 80 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: Syracuse so so in the Romans were in a war 81 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: with It was a Roman Carthin Carthaginian war. Says, Carthage 82 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: and Rome are in a war with each other. In 83 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: Syracuse got pulled into the middle of that, despite attempts 84 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 1: to kind of, sort of not do that, but various 85 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: rulers of Syracuse ended up siding with either Rome or 86 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: Carthage during the the the whole conflict, and at one 87 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: point in the war, Rome besieged Syracuse and during the attack, 88 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: a Roman soldier came upon Archimedes, and although there were 89 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: specific orders to spare the life of Archimedes, the Roman 90 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: soldier killed him, apparently not knowing the identity of the 91 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: man he put to the sword. So Archimedes was. He 92 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: was valued by both sides. He was recognized as a genius, 93 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: and neither side wanted this genius to be destroyed. But 94 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: as an unfortunate side effect of war, sometimes accidents happened. 95 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: Now why was why did people consider him a genius? Well, 96 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: one was that he was making incredible contributions to mathematics. 97 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: He had found really interesting relationships between things like the 98 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 1: volume of the sphere and the surface area of cylinders, 99 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: and found out interesting ways to to kind of explain 100 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: those relationships, including a very close approximation of pie. Um pie. 101 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: We've lost him, haven't had breakfast yet. Um. So he 102 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: was definitely valued for his intelligence, but beyond that, he 103 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: also was this great inventor. In fact, during the war, 104 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: during the siege on Syracuse, he came up with an 105 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: invention known as the iron hand that played a big 106 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: part in the defense of the city. Did you come 107 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: across the iron hand? Actually, I did not come across 108 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: the iron hand. This is different from the iron fist. Yeah, 109 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: I guess the one is used for defense. The other 110 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: one you rule with that. It was also sometimes called 111 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: our media's claw. Um. It's a it's a brilliant, brilliant 112 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: defense mechanism for that time. It would not work today. 113 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: But here's what here's what it was. So Syracuse was 114 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: um right up against the ocean, like essentially there was 115 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: you know, a slight cliff, and then you had a 116 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: city wall that that was I think twenty seven kilometers 117 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: long back when it stood. It doesn't stand anymore. Um, 118 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: but it you know, then you it was essentially right 119 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 1: up against the ocean. So one of the possible avenues 120 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: of attack was an attack by sea, which is what 121 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,679 Speaker 1: one of the venues that Rome was interested in. So uh, 122 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: the leader of Syracuse came to our communes and said, 123 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: I need a way to protect us while from these 124 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: attacks from the from the ocean. So what our communees 125 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: came up with was an enormous lever that you would 126 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: mount on the sides of the city walls. Are actually 127 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: on the top of the city walls. So you have 128 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: this huge lever that that extends out over the ocean. Okay, 129 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: from the end of the lever, you have a rope 130 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: that drops down and on the end of the rope 131 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: is a grappling hook. Now on the other end, the 132 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: short end of the lever, you put huge lead weights 133 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: and you first put them near the pivot point so 134 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: that the weight of the long part of the lever 135 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: keeps it level. All right. What you try to do 136 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: is you try and catch the bow of a ship, 137 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: a Roman ship with that grappling hook. Once you do, 138 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: you slide those weights back from the the the fulcrum 139 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: there to the very end of the short arm of 140 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,199 Speaker 1: the lever. Now that weight is enough to push that 141 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: end of the lever down, meaning the long arm of 142 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: the lever goes up. That's the arm that, by the way, 143 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: is attached to the rope and the grappling hook. So 144 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: you literally pull the end of the Roman ship out 145 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: of the water. You then use the lever to shake 146 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: the Roman ship and eventually the grappling hook breaks off 147 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: of it, making the Roman ship fall again, either smashing 148 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: against the water or the rocks on the base of 149 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: the cliffs. That's brilliant, but extremely complicated. It seems like 150 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: trying to to build the leaver. Yeah, however, was incredibly effective. Yeah, 151 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:19,200 Speaker 1: it's so effective that Rome abandoned their sea based attacks. 152 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: They instead of instead of attacking Syracuse by see, what 153 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: they did was they set up a blockade further out 154 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: in the ocean where they're not going to get hit 155 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 1: by a grappling hook from the shore, and then they 156 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: ended up attacking by land and eventually sacked Syracuse. So 157 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: while the victory was a a a good one, I 158 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: mean it was, it was definitely a lauded victory, but 159 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: it was short lived because all they did was they 160 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: changed tactics, and unfortunately the the iron hand was not 161 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,719 Speaker 1: as good at defending against land based attacks good at all. Now, 162 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:04,880 Speaker 1: there were other theoretical weapons that some people say actually 163 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: were built and used against the Romans during this very 164 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: same siege. And uh, one of the one I was 165 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: talking about with MythBusters was the the Archimedes death ray. 166 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: Oh right, you know what I'm talking about here, right right, 167 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: How he theoretically was able to uh set fire to 168 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,160 Speaker 1: the sales, to the sales or actual ships from a distance. 169 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: The idea being that he designed a device that would 170 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: reflect and concentrate light from the sun and direct it 171 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: at ships, and it would be so intense that it 172 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: would be hot enough to to set fire to at 173 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: least the sales of the ship, if not the actual 174 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: ships themselves. Uh and and and at least some of 175 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: the reports, it was said that he used shields and 176 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: he just polished the surface of the metal shields and 177 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: arrayed them in a in a shape that would direct 178 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: the light kind of very concentrated way. So you have 179 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,199 Speaker 1: all these different shields that are tilted just so so 180 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: that the light that they reflect all hits the same spot, 181 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: sort of like the the devices that you used to 182 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: cook a hot dog or something like that, that you 183 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: used to use a camp. You know, you have your 184 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: your mirror and you stick your food there, and you 185 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: know the sunlight reflects off the inside of the mirror 186 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:25,959 Speaker 1: and except much much larger and stuff I used to fire. Yeah. Anyway, No, 187 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: that that actually isn't so far fetched in a way. 188 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: I mean, he really was interested in catoptrics, which I 189 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: didn't know was a word, So I'm trying to use 190 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: it and build it into my vocabulary that I don't 191 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: know what it is, so please tell me. Yes, Well, 192 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: I actually got that word from Britannica's profile on Archimedes. Um. 193 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: It is the part of optics that works with the 194 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: reflection of light from mirrors from different types. They could 195 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,680 Speaker 1: be flat or curved mirrors, but catoptrics is is that, 196 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: uh study, And he was particularly interested in it, So 197 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: it wasn't like it was out of character for him 198 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: to be interested in something like that. But apparently it 199 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: doesn't so much work well. On the MythBusters episode that 200 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: they made, um, the MythBusters used they they actually tried 201 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: to build one themselves and it didn't really work so well. 202 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: And then they they set out a challenge to various 203 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: groups to try and build UM a working ar Comedes 204 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: death ray, and they found some success, something where it 205 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 1: was warm enough where it could in theory set fire 206 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: to maybe the sales, but it would it took time, 207 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: and you know, you had to worry about it being 208 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:38,319 Speaker 1: the right time of day for you to be able 209 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: to do this, and it would really depend on the 210 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: ship being very uh well complicit in the burning process, 211 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: in the sense of if the ship's moving around a lot, 212 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: then you have to be able to move the race 213 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: so that it stays on the same general area in 214 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: order to keep increasing that temperature until it reaches the 215 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: burning point. And if the ship's moving, then you may 216 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: not be able to train in the ray on that 217 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: on that moving target fast enough to be able to 218 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: UM to actually get the temperature hot enough to for 219 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: stuff to burn. So it's even if it were an 220 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: actual weapon, it was not necessarily an effective one, not 221 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,760 Speaker 1: like the not like the the the lever that he 222 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 1: had designed, which was demonstrably effective, effective enough to make 223 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,960 Speaker 1: the Romans change their tactics. Now, there are also other 224 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: interesting inventions that we attribute to our commutees one of 225 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 1: which is uh that that he probably did make were planetariums. 226 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: Oh yes, they were also called spheres at the time, 227 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: the Archimedes spears, and it was if you don't know 228 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,679 Speaker 1: what a planetarium is, a planetarium is essentially a geocentric 229 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: model of what the h the stars and position of 230 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: planets in the Sun and the moon, what what it 231 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: looks like from the perspective of Earth. You know, it's 232 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: a it's an earth based view of the the galaxies 233 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: around us, the universe essentially. And so Archimedes had apparently 234 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: built one of these possibly that used interesting little gears 235 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: to mimic the motion of the planets and stars and 236 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: constellations to keep everything aligned properly and making the move 237 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: the way they actually do through the sky. And uh, 238 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: he built a couple of these apparently, although both of 239 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: them have been lost. There were other devices that have 240 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: been recovered since then from shipwrecks and things like that 241 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: that may either be an actual example of the spheres 242 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: that Archimedes himself built, or maybe built on the same 243 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: principles that Archimedes used when building his. But that's that's 244 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: one of the things where we have we've heard the 245 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: record of him building these things, and he certainly had 246 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: the intelligence necessary to be able to design such a thing, 247 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: we just don't have the physical proof of it. Um. Yeah, 248 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: there was a treatise that he apparently wrote called the 249 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: sand Reckoner that had to do with um astronomy and 250 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: his astronomical thought. He actually had had been able to 251 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: uh sort of using his tools of his time, he 252 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: was able to get an eye a reasonable idea of 253 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: the diameter of the sun, um, you know, through his 254 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: uh using instruments to observe this. And this is of 255 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: course along before people that we sort of associate with 256 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: um astronomy, you know, modern astronomy, people like Galileo UM. 257 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: You know. There he was really sort of in a 258 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: groundbreaking category in this regard, but all there were others 259 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: who who worked with these principles to um. You know, 260 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,560 Speaker 1: his work went into uh several others as well, but UM, 261 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: I think it's sort of disappeared for a while. Ile 262 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: Um and they were the kinds of things too that 263 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: stood out. People like Plutarch the um you know, who 264 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: wrote quite a bit about the famous people of his time, 265 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: categorized archimedes work UM and he's you know, these things 266 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: were well enough documented that he was able to pull 267 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: this out. You know, Chris has a lot more to 268 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: say about Archimedes, but honestly it's all Greek to me. 269 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: So we're going to take a quick break. I'd like 270 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: to talk about another real quick legendary Archimedes moment. Okay, um, 271 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: this would be another great quote. Doesn't have to do 272 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: with the bathtub, Yes it does. It has to do 273 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: with the bathtub. So this is again a possibly apocryphal story. 274 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: So in other words, this this may not be true. 275 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: In fact, I think a lot of historians put this 276 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: in the realm of legend for for many reasons, one 277 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: of which is that the solution Archimedes came up with 278 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:06,240 Speaker 1: was actually not as not as difficult to to get 279 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 1: to as you would imagine. So in other words, it 280 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: seems like it's too easy an answer for Archimedes is 281 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: almost the argument here. But the the situation was that 282 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: you had the King of Syracuse who had commissioned a 283 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: a golden crown, and this golden crown was made, but 284 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: the king was suspicious of the golden crown. He thought 285 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: that perhaps the person who made it actually used silver 286 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: to make the crown, and then coded it with gold 287 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,880 Speaker 1: in order to to cheat the king out of money, 288 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: essentially because silver was less precious than gold, and therefore 289 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: by using gold silver in the crown, he could make 290 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:51,120 Speaker 1: it for for less money than it would cost him 291 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,400 Speaker 1: to gather all the materials, and thus have a higher profit. So, 292 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: how do you figure out if it weighs the right 293 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: amount for a crown of that general size? Um, how 294 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: do you figure out whether or not silver was used? Well, 295 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: silver doesn't weigh as much as gold does, so, in 296 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: other in other words, in order to make a silver 297 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 1: crown that would weigh the same amount as a gold crown, 298 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: you would have to add more silver. Right. So if 299 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: you had a cube of silver and a cube of 300 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: gold that were the exact same size, right, the gold 301 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:26,399 Speaker 1: would weigh more. Yes, So in order to make the 302 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: cube's weigh the same, you would have to have a 303 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: bigger cube of silver, right. So that was that was 304 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: what Archimedes came up with. He came up with this 305 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: idea of well, if I use the amount of gold 306 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: that it takes to create the weight of this crown, 307 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: just let's say this crown weighs let's just say ten pounds, Okay, okay, 308 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: So for the argument's sake, this crown weighed ten pounds. 309 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: So what our community said, well, what if I get 310 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: ten pounds of gold, and then I use some way 311 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: to determine the mass of that gold, and then I 312 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: use that same measurement for the crown. If the measurements 313 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: the same, then we can come to the conclusion that 314 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 1: the gold that is gold in the crown. If the 315 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: if it's different, then we can say that maybe there's 316 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: a different material in here. So what he did was 317 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: he took a bath. Yes he did. So this all 318 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,879 Speaker 1: has to do with the displacement of water by putting 319 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,680 Speaker 1: the the And again we're just using this this measurement 320 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: out of for for simplicity's sake, putting ten pounds of 321 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,840 Speaker 1: gold in the bath, he sees how much water is displaced, 322 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 1: how far that water is displaced in the bath, and 323 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: then putting the crown in there, he can see how 324 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: much water is displaced from there, and the the amount 325 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: is different than he knows that the two materials are 326 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: not the same. And supposedly he became so excited by 327 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:51,200 Speaker 1: this discovery that he ran out of his home. Starkers, 328 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: that's not a joke. That's part of the legend. Know 329 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,920 Speaker 1: that that part is not what's cracking up starkers nick. 330 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: He was naked as a blue jay running down the 331 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: road turning into my uh my kin folk here. Um 332 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: so anyway, yeah, completely nude, running down the street and 333 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: screams out Eureka, which means I have found it also 334 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 1: is a quirky dramatic comedy on the Sci Fi Network, 335 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: Yes it is. Anyway, so Eureka. That's that's where we 336 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: get that when when you have someone who makes a 337 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: discovering screams at Eureka, they are essentially paying homage to 338 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: our comedies. Which again, since this is a potentially apocryphal story, 339 00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: we might just be paying homage to a legend. Well, 340 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: apparently that the bathtub part is what's probably apocryphal, but 341 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: the crown part apparently is true. Um they do. They 342 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: do seem to feel, or at least Britannic Ads seems 343 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: to feel that that that he was asked to determine 344 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: whether or not the crown is actually gold apparently really 345 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,399 Speaker 1: did happen. Yeah, And you know you would want somebody 346 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: like Archimedes to do this because he was thinking scientifically 347 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,719 Speaker 1: in this case, and the reason you might say, well, 348 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,919 Speaker 1: why don't they just scratched the crown and see if 349 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: they're silver and bite it like your coin. Right, Well, 350 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 1: the problem here was that the crown was considered to 351 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: be almost a holy relic. It was because the kings 352 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: of the Greeks were they would trace their lineage back 353 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:33,399 Speaker 1: to gods, and so you couldn't destroy the crown in 354 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: any way because that was an affront to the gods. 355 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,400 Speaker 1: So he had to find a non destructive way to 356 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 1: test this without you know, without actually causing any sort 357 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: of damage to the crown, which markes it way more difficult. Um. 358 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: And then we have another object that is attributed to Archimedes, 359 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,919 Speaker 1: although it's very possible that it actually predates his lifetime 360 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,000 Speaker 1: and it's just that he observed it and then was 361 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,560 Speaker 1: able to apply it elsewhere, which is the Archimedes screw. Yes, 362 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 1: you know, well, how could it not be archimedes invention? 363 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: It has his name right there in the name. Well, yeah, 364 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:16,919 Speaker 1: McDonald's isn't named for somebody named McDonald, So you know 365 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: there's a name. A name is is tricky thing sometimes, 366 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: but yes, he did. He did observe the principle that 367 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: you know, the hydrostatic principle using using the screw to 368 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: raise water, which sounds counterintuitive at first until you realize 369 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: how this is implemented. It's actually a screw that is, 370 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: in general, the screw is encased in a tube and 371 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,680 Speaker 1: then you lay it in a at an angle whereof 372 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: you know, one end is raised at the top and 373 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: the other end goes into the water. So you've got 374 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: one end that that descends into the water and you 375 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: have one end that's above the water level. You start 376 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: turning that screw and what it does is it scoops 377 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: the water and the water travels up the screw just 378 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: because of the principle of the screw as you turn 379 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: it within this tube. Now there's you know, you might 380 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: have some leakage issues where some of the water leaks 381 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: back down to the next level down. But as as 382 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: soon as you start turning that screw with a nice clip, 383 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 1: eventually the water starts coming to the surface, and the 384 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: the speed that you turn the screw will counteract the 385 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: leaking problem. And since it's just leaking to the next 386 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: level down, it essentially becomes a non issue. Once you 387 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: get to a certain speed and you can actually lift 388 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: water out of out of a body of water that way, 389 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,159 Speaker 1: and this was often used in our Coimedes time to 390 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: pull water from say a lake and put it into 391 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: an irrigation system. The Greeks and Romans were both very 392 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: big on irrigation. Yes, indeed, um, yeah, Actually, that reminds 393 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,800 Speaker 1: me of there's an infant toy that has three or 394 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,679 Speaker 1: four little plastic balls and there's a screw inside. And 395 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,360 Speaker 1: if you push down and it's encased, as you said, 396 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,159 Speaker 1: in it and not in a tube. It's actually sort 397 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: of a it's not conical, but it does get narrower 398 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:03,639 Speaker 1: at the top than it is at the bottom. And 399 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: when you press down on the plunger in the center, 400 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: it makes the screw turn and the faster you push it, 401 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:13,119 Speaker 1: the higher the balls climb up the screw until you 402 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,360 Speaker 1: stop and then they spin back down. I mean, it's 403 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,120 Speaker 1: not hydro static. There's no water, and it's the same. Yeah, 404 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: it's the same kind of thing, and you can sort 405 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,359 Speaker 1: of if you've seen that, that's you can sort of 406 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: imagine that because it's you don't often see an Archimedes 407 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,640 Speaker 1: screw in practice, although you you can see them in practice. 408 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,399 Speaker 1: If you were to go to certain hydro electric plants. 409 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,040 Speaker 1: They would be used in practice in reverse because then 410 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:41,359 Speaker 1: what you do is you turn the If you happen 411 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: to pour water on the top of the screw, it 412 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: will make the screw turn. So you know, turning the 413 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:48,719 Speaker 1: screw will bring water to the top. But if you 414 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: pour water on the top of the screw, it makes 415 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: the screw turn, so it's the reverse action. Well, that 416 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 1: means if you are able to position the screw so 417 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,719 Speaker 1: that a flow of water is constant the top of it, 418 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: then the screw will keep turning. You can make that 419 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: screw to work. You can have that screw uh use, 420 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 1: you can use it to drive a generator, an electric generator, 421 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: and thus you can create electricity from water. That's just 422 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: one way. I mean there are turbines as well. I mean, 423 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: it's not the only method of using water to drive 424 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: an electric generator, but it is one way. Yeah, I 425 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 1: was actually thinking of the Tesla turbine when you mentioned that, 426 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: um which is also a fascinating thing. We have an 427 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,920 Speaker 1: article on the website about that. As a matter of fact. Yeah, 428 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: it's not using the same exact principle, but it's also 429 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: a way of using water or to uh to turn 430 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: a turbine. That's not you know something what I would 431 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: think of is typical. But anyway, I digress, and we 432 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: again we should point out, I mean, we've mentioned it 433 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: a couple of times, but it bears repeating that they 434 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: the actual our commedees screw. There are at least some 435 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: indications that this was being used in Egypt, uh, well 436 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: before Our Comedies ever had his name attached to it. Yeah, 437 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: completely by chance. Um. A few months ago, I was 438 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,240 Speaker 1: reading the uh, the Biography of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. 439 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: It's very popular there for a while, UM, and I 440 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,199 Speaker 1: hadn't really read a lot about ancient Egypt. But he 441 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: our Comedies was actually in contact with uh, some of 442 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: the scientists in Alexandria, which at that time Alexandria in 443 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 1: Egypt was probably the world center of learning, or at 444 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,879 Speaker 1: least one of the top uh centers of scholarship, you know, 445 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: And he apparently was was in contact with them and 446 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,760 Speaker 1: had spent some time in Egypt before he went to Syracuse. Uh. 447 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: So it is not at all unlikely, um that he 448 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,120 Speaker 1: wouldn't have you know that that he would have had 449 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 1: contact with those uh, those scientists over there and gotten 450 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 1: some some cool ideas, you know, and he also was 451 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: attributed with the creation of a game. Really did you 452 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: hear about stone machion or stomachion? I have heard of it, 453 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: but I didn't realize this was this was related to Archimedes. 454 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,439 Speaker 1: It's attributed to him. It's a it's a game that 455 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,640 Speaker 1: you play with these different shapes. It's almost like having 456 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: a puzzle in a way, like these shapes if you 457 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 1: if you put them all together in one way, it 458 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,159 Speaker 1: will create essentially a square. But the idea is to 459 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: use those shapes to create other recognizable shapes. And it's 460 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: really an exercise and creativity like seeing seeing the potential 461 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: of geometry to build um shapes that are more organic, 462 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: so things like use them to build a tree or 463 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: the example I saw was an elephant um, which is 464 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 1: kind of it's just kind of interesting. Is the idea 465 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: that you have to use all the shapes in the 466 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:49,679 Speaker 1: group to create a recognizable object, an interesting object. And 467 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: uh so that's also attributed to Archimedes. But again this 468 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: is another one of those attributions that we can't be 469 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: completely serve is accurate. It's just one of those another 470 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: another interesting thing of something that Archimedes may have had 471 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: a hand in We'll be back with this classic episode 472 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: about Archimedes in just a moment after this quick break. 473 00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: So shapes actually, yeah right, speaking of shapes. Um, you 474 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,920 Speaker 1: know he was he was involved with many He published 475 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: a lot of his work, and there there is an 476 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: indication that he may have had other work that he 477 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: either didn't publish or that was later lost. Again, there's 478 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: been a lot of time that has passed now since 479 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: he is he has left us. But um, one of 480 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: the things we do know that he was fascinated with shapes. Um. 481 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 1: He was able to, uh, to figure out the surface 482 00:28:55,480 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: area of a spear fear of radius R. You remember 483 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: this back from your mathematics classes. I have a vague 484 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: memory of it. Yeah, yeah, S equals for pie r squared. Yeah, 485 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: and the volume is two thirds of the cylinder in 486 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: which it is inscribed V equals four thirds pie r cubed. 487 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: I have not had to know those those formula and 488 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: so long, but they came back to me as soon 489 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: as I saw that. And apparently, uh, he was so 490 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: excited about this that this is actually, uh, what his 491 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: tomb was marked with. Yes, Marcus Tullius Cicero found his tomb, 492 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: which had been overgrown with uh greenery, let's say, and 493 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: um probably about a hundred and fifty years or so 494 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: after he died, and found that his uh, his tomb 495 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,360 Speaker 1: had been inscribed with a a sphere or had been 496 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: marked with a sphere inscribed in a cylinder. And that's uh. 497 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: I just think that's fascinating. I mean, going back to 498 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: what I learned about geometry and um uh calculus, I 499 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: think of people who came much later than that, but 500 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 1: you know, in general, but our comedes really had a 501 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: huge influence on many many other people. Of course, his 502 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: writings were known to UH to the Arabic world. A 503 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: lot of a lot of scientists and mathematicians from that 504 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: era in in later centuries were able to take his 505 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: work and build upon it UM and it's just uh, 506 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 1: it's just cool stuff. He also did a lot with 507 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,120 Speaker 1: with mathematics as it was, you know, working on place 508 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: value systems UM. And there's lots and lots of different things. 509 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 1: He wasn't He wasn't a he was I would say polymathic. 510 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:55,480 Speaker 1: You know, somebody who is his UM well, has has 511 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,959 Speaker 1: knowledge in multiple areas, very knowledgeable about a variety of 512 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,000 Speaker 1: mathematical and science topics, and we'll probably talk about other 513 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:06,280 Speaker 1: individuals who fall into that category as well. UM for example, 514 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: I eventually we're gonna have to do a full profile 515 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: on Leonardo da Vinci because but that's another famous poly 516 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: math from from history that that you know, really was 517 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: instrumental in the whole idea of of invention, you know, 518 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: really embracing that part of genius. I hope you guys 519 00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: enjoyed that classic episode of tech Stuff. I will be 520 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: back soon to record new episodes. Even as I sit 521 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: out in the Hawaiian Sun. Trust me. I've already got 522 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: notes set for an episode about TikTok, So keep an 523 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,160 Speaker 1: ear out because that will be coming soon. But until then, 524 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,080 Speaker 1: if you guys have suggestions for future episodes, maybe there's 525 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: some tech topic, a company, a technology, a person in tech, 526 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 1: a trend in tech that you really want to know 527 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: more about, send me a message. A lot of you 528 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: guys have been doing that, and it's awesome. Keep them coming. 529 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: It makes it much easier for me to make sure 530 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: you guys are getting what you want and I get 531 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: to learn new stuff along the way, so everybody wins. 532 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 1: You can reach out to me on Facebook or on Twitter. 533 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: The handle for both is tech stuff H s W 534 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 535 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 536 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 537 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 538 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:28,719 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.