Eureka!!

In some movies and TV programs we often hear the exclamation “Eureka”. This word is normally used to celebrate a great discovery, but most of the people don’t know why it is said. This word comes from Ancient Greek and means “I have found it”.

The history says that Archimedes said that word while he was having a bath and he discovered that by measuring the amount of water his body displaced, he could measure his body’s volume. This is what we know as “Archimedes’ principle”. When he discovered that, he became so happy and he started running in the streets of Syracuse shouting: Eureka! Of course, he didn’t notice that he was completely nude.

There is a story which explains that Archimedes was trying to find the purity of the gold in the crown of the king of Syracuse. He was afraid that the crown had been filled with silver, despite the weight was similar to other golden crowns. Archimedes used his principle and he found out that the suspicions of the king were correct.