One of the more popular myths concerning Archimedes, the famous Siracusan mathematician who "discovered" displacement as a means for measuring density, is that in 212 BC he defeated a fleet of Roman ships besieging Siracusa by way of a sun-powered deathray. Supposedly Archimedes built either a very large mirror, or assembled a massive array of smaller mirrors, and, focusing the energy of that beating Mediterranean sun, sent rays of heat out into the harbor that set fire to the Roman's ships, forcing them to quit the siege and flee Siracusa. The Discovery Channel's MythBusters tested this story, and determined that no such thing was possible, declaring the myth officially "busted." MIT Students in course 2.009 (a class entitled Product Engineering Processes in the Mechanical Engineering department) decided to follow up with a test of their own as a way of illustrating the engineering principles of an Idea Feasibility Study. Shockingly, they were successful in setting fire to a mock ship constructed of 1" thick red oak atop a parking garage in Cambridge. As a follow up, some of these same students traveled to San Francisco last October to work with the MythBusters on setting up the experiment again, this time to attempt to ignite a boat in water. Results were less conclusive. Keep in mind, though, that this was San Francisco in October where the sun is a far cry from the one that would have been fueling Archimedes' deathray. The episode of MythBusters (a terrific show by any measure) that details this experiment is airing tonight on the Discovery Channel at 9pm.
No matter how you slice it, this is fucking cool. A Sun-Powered Deathray? Cut it out, Archimedes! You're too much! There's another myth concerning Archimedes' death: Supposedly during a later Roman invasion, the Legions sacking the city were specifically instructed that the Caesar (don't know which one) had heard of this brilliant mathematician in Siracusa and wanted him kept alive for the betterment of the Empire. However, when a Legionnaire burst into Archimedes' house, the mathematician was so engrossed in thought that he utterly failed to take notice of this blood-drenched, armored man who had just crashed through his front door. In a fit of rage at this affront to his obvious might, the Legionnaire ran Archimedes through with a spear.
What a badass.
Labels: science
posted by dan @ 10:25 AM
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