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Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 20:23:59 +0900
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: The Archimedes Palimpsest
Cc: math-history-list@enterprise.maa.org

At 11:30 PM 99.3.13, Thanos Syros wrote:
[...]
>I read also the article of the Baltimore Sun and I found there a serious
>mistake.
>Can anybody from the list tell me where is the mistake?
[...]
>                     He must put the crown into a vessel filled with
> water, then capture the water it displaces in a second vessel.
> He then must melt an amount of gold equal to the volume of
> the displaced water. When it hardens he puts it in the
> first vessel. If the water level rises to the top of the
> vessel it proves the volume of gold in the crown and the gold
> brick are equal and the crown is pure gold. If not, the
> goldsmith is in trouble.



He must then take a block of pure gold equal in weight to
the crown and put it into the first tank. If the water
level rises to the top it proves the crown is pure gold,
if not, the goldsmith is in trouble.



Most lesser metals have a lower density than gold (19.3 g/cm3),
so a crown alloyed from gold and -say- silver (10.5 g/cm3) would
have a density somewhere between both. Thus, it would >occupy< a
larger volume than pure gold at a given weight.

However, the goldsmith may just have been a knowledgeable craftsman.
Pure gold is quite soft and dents easily, so usually >gold< used for
jewellery is 18 karat, that is 75% gold, 12.5% silver and 12.5% copper.

BTW, did this really happen or is it an early >urban legend< ?

sincerely,
Alvar Minaya

Dept. of Genetics
Nagasaki, Japan




.