TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Armand D'Angour: The real story behind Archimedes' Eureka!

Unscramble the Blue Letters

When you think of Archimedes' "Eureka!" moment, you probably think of this. As it turns out, it may have been more like this. In the third century BC, Hieron, king of the siaiilcn city of Syracuse, chose Archimedes to supervise an engineering project of unprecedented scale. horein commissioned a sailing vessel 50 temis begigr than a standard ancient warship, named the Syracusia after his city. Hieron wanted to construct the lraesgt ship ever, which was destined to be given as a present for Egypt's relur, Ptolemy. But could a boat the size of a palace pissolby float? In Archimedes's day, no one had atpeettmd anything like this. It was like asking, "Can a mountain fly?" King Hieron had a lot riding on that question. Hundreds of workmen were to labor for years on constructing the Syracusia out of beams of pine and fir from Mount Etna, ropes from hemp grown in Spain, and pitch from fncare. The top deck, on which eight watchtowers were to sntad, was to be supported not by colmuns, but by vast wooden images of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. On the ship's bow, a massive catapult would be able to fire 180 pound stone missiles. For the enjoyment of its passengers, the ship was to feature a flower-lined promenade, a sheltered swimming pool, and buhshaote with haeetd water, a library fllied with books and statues, a temple to the goddess Aphrodite, and a gymnasium. And just to make things more difficult for Archimedes, Hieron inetednd to pack the vessel full of cargo: 400 tons of gairn, 10,000 jars of pickled fish, 74 tons of drinking water, and 600 tons of wool. It would have carried well over a thousand people on board, including 600 sroedils. And it housed 20 horses in separate slltas. To build something of this scale, only for that to sink on its medain voyage? Well, let's just say that frlaiue wouldn't have been a pleasant option for Archimedes. So he took on the problem: will it sink? Perhaps he was sitting in the bathhouse one day, wondering how a heavy btuahtb can float, when inspiration came to him. An object partailly imrsmeed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the wgieht of the fluid displaced by the object. In other wrods, if a 2,000 ton Syracusia displaced exactly 2,000 tons of waetr, it would just barely float. If it displaced 4,000 tons of water, it would float with no problem. Of course, if it only displaced 1,000 tons of water, well, Hieron wouldn't be too happy. This is the law of bncouyay, and engineers still call it Archimedes' Principle. It explains why a steel supertanker can float as easily as a wooden rowboat or a bathtub. If the weight of water displaced by the vessel below the keel is eqevanilut to the vessel's weight, whatever is above the keel will remain afloat above the waterline. This sounds a lot like another story involving Archimedes and a bathtub, and it's possible that's because they're actually the same story, twisted by the vagaries of history. The classical story of Archimedes' Eureka! and subsequent streak through the streets centers around a cworn, or cronoa in Latin. At the core of the suiaycrsa story is a keel, or konroe in Greek. Could one have been mixed up for the other? We may never know. On the day the Syracusia arrived in Egypt on its first and only voyage, we can only imagine how residents of Alexandria threongd the harbor to marvel at the arrival of this meiasjtc, floating castle. This enxtroarrdiay veessl was the Titanic of the ancient world, except without the sinking, thanks to our pal, Archimedes.

Open Cloze

When you think of Archimedes' "Eureka!" moment, you probably think of this. As it turns out, it may have been more like this. In the third century BC, Hieron, king of the ________ city of Syracuse, chose Archimedes to supervise an engineering project of unprecedented scale. ______ commissioned a sailing vessel 50 _____ ______ than a standard ancient warship, named the Syracusia after his city. Hieron wanted to construct the _______ ship ever, which was destined to be given as a present for Egypt's _____, Ptolemy. But could a boat the size of a palace ________ float? In Archimedes's day, no one had _________ anything like this. It was like asking, "Can a mountain fly?" King Hieron had a lot riding on that question. Hundreds of workmen were to labor for years on constructing the Syracusia out of beams of pine and fir from Mount Etna, ropes from hemp grown in Spain, and pitch from ______. The top deck, on which eight watchtowers were to _____, was to be supported not by _______, but by vast wooden images of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. On the ship's bow, a massive catapult would be able to fire 180 pound stone missiles. For the enjoyment of its passengers, the ship was to feature a flower-lined promenade, a sheltered swimming pool, and _________ with ______ water, a library ______ with books and statues, a temple to the goddess Aphrodite, and a gymnasium. And just to make things more difficult for Archimedes, Hieron ________ to pack the vessel full of cargo: 400 tons of _____, 10,000 jars of pickled fish, 74 tons of drinking water, and 600 tons of wool. It would have carried well over a thousand people on board, including 600 ________. And it housed 20 horses in separate ______. To build something of this scale, only for that to sink on its ______ voyage? Well, let's just say that _______ wouldn't have been a pleasant option for Archimedes. So he took on the problem: will it sink? Perhaps he was sitting in the bathhouse one day, wondering how a heavy _______ can float, when inspiration came to him. An object _________ ________ in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the ______ of the fluid displaced by the object. In other _____, if a 2,000 ton Syracusia displaced exactly 2,000 tons of _____, it would just barely float. If it displaced 4,000 tons of water, it would float with no problem. Of course, if it only displaced 1,000 tons of water, well, Hieron wouldn't be too happy. This is the law of ________, and engineers still call it Archimedes' Principle. It explains why a steel supertanker can float as easily as a wooden rowboat or a bathtub. If the weight of water displaced by the vessel below the keel is __________ to the vessel's weight, whatever is above the keel will remain afloat above the waterline. This sounds a lot like another story involving Archimedes and a bathtub, and it's possible that's because they're actually the same story, twisted by the vagaries of history. The classical story of Archimedes' Eureka! and subsequent streak through the streets centers around a _____, or ______ in Latin. At the core of the _________ story is a keel, or ______ in Greek. Could one have been mixed up for the other? We may never know. On the day the Syracusia arrived in Egypt on its first and only voyage, we can only imagine how residents of Alexandria ________ the harbor to marvel at the arrival of this ________, floating castle. This _____________ ______ was the Titanic of the ancient world, except without the sinking, thanks to our pal, Archimedes.

Solution

largest
bigger
syracusia
crown
failure
ruler
grain
words
columns
sicilian
soldiers
maiden
bathtub
korone
france
times
vessel
water
immersed
thronged
hieron
equivalent
attempted
weight
possibly
stand
bathhouse
extraordinary
stalls
filled
partially
heated
majestic
corona
intended
buoyancy

Original Text

When you think of Archimedes' "Eureka!" moment, you probably think of this. As it turns out, it may have been more like this. In the third century BC, Hieron, king of the Sicilian city of Syracuse, chose Archimedes to supervise an engineering project of unprecedented scale. Hieron commissioned a sailing vessel 50 times bigger than a standard ancient warship, named the Syracusia after his city. Hieron wanted to construct the largest ship ever, which was destined to be given as a present for Egypt's ruler, Ptolemy. But could a boat the size of a palace possibly float? In Archimedes's day, no one had attempted anything like this. It was like asking, "Can a mountain fly?" King Hieron had a lot riding on that question. Hundreds of workmen were to labor for years on constructing the Syracusia out of beams of pine and fir from Mount Etna, ropes from hemp grown in Spain, and pitch from France. The top deck, on which eight watchtowers were to stand, was to be supported not by columns, but by vast wooden images of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. On the ship's bow, a massive catapult would be able to fire 180 pound stone missiles. For the enjoyment of its passengers, the ship was to feature a flower-lined promenade, a sheltered swimming pool, and bathhouse with heated water, a library filled with books and statues, a temple to the goddess Aphrodite, and a gymnasium. And just to make things more difficult for Archimedes, Hieron intended to pack the vessel full of cargo: 400 tons of grain, 10,000 jars of pickled fish, 74 tons of drinking water, and 600 tons of wool. It would have carried well over a thousand people on board, including 600 soldiers. And it housed 20 horses in separate stalls. To build something of this scale, only for that to sink on its maiden voyage? Well, let's just say that failure wouldn't have been a pleasant option for Archimedes. So he took on the problem: will it sink? Perhaps he was sitting in the bathhouse one day, wondering how a heavy bathtub can float, when inspiration came to him. An object partially immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object. In other words, if a 2,000 ton Syracusia displaced exactly 2,000 tons of water, it would just barely float. If it displaced 4,000 tons of water, it would float with no problem. Of course, if it only displaced 1,000 tons of water, well, Hieron wouldn't be too happy. This is the law of buoyancy, and engineers still call it Archimedes' Principle. It explains why a steel supertanker can float as easily as a wooden rowboat or a bathtub. If the weight of water displaced by the vessel below the keel is equivalent to the vessel's weight, whatever is above the keel will remain afloat above the waterline. This sounds a lot like another story involving Archimedes and a bathtub, and it's possible that's because they're actually the same story, twisted by the vagaries of history. The classical story of Archimedes' Eureka! and subsequent streak through the streets centers around a crown, or corona in Latin. At the core of the Syracusia story is a keel, or korone in Greek. Could one have been mixed up for the other? We may never know. On the day the Syracusia arrived in Egypt on its first and only voyage, we can only imagine how residents of Alexandria thronged the harbor to marvel at the arrival of this majestic, floating castle. This extraordinary vessel was the Titanic of the ancient world, except without the sinking, thanks to our pal, Archimedes.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

afloat
alexandria
ancient
aphrodite
archimedes
arrival
arrived
atlas
attempted
barely
bathhouse
bathtub
bc
beams
bigger
board
boat
books
bow
build
buoyancy
buoyed
call
carried
castle
catapult
centers
century
chose
city
classical
columns
commissioned
construct
constructing
core
corona
crown
day
deck
destined
difficult
displaced
drinking
easily
egypt
engineering
engineers
enjoyment
equal
equivalent
etna
explains
extraordinary
failure
feature
filled
fir
fire
fish
float
floating
fluid
fly
force
france
full
goddess
grain
greek
grown
gymnasium
happy
harbor
heated
heavy
hemp
hieron
history
holding
horses
housed
hundreds
images
imagine
immersed
including
inspiration
intended
involving
jars
keel
king
korone
labor
largest
latin
law
library
lot
maiden
majestic
marvel
massive
missiles
mixed
moment
mount
mountain
named
object
option
pack
pal
palace
partially
passengers
people
pickled
pine
pitch
pleasant
pool
possibly
pound
present
principle
problem
project
promenade
ptolemy
question
remain
residents
riding
ropes
rowboat
ruler
sailing
scale
separate
sheltered
ship
shoulders
sicilian
sink
sinking
sitting
size
soldiers
sounds
spain
stalls
stand
standard
statues
steel
stone
story
streak
streets
subsequent
supertanker
supervise
supported
swimming
syracuse
syracusia
temple
thousand
thronged
times
titanic
ton
tons
top
turns
twisted
unprecedented
vagaries
vast
vessel
voyage
wanted
warship
watchtowers
water
waterline
weight
wondering
wooden
wool
words
workmen
world
years