June 5, 2009
Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, was trying to devise a plan to find out if a goldsmith did in fact cheat the great King Hiero II. We spoke about this in our last post and we also mentioned this his solution to this problem was rather interesting. His solution was to take a bath. What does taking a bath and gold have in common, you may be wondering? If you recall we mentioned that the king had given the goldsmith pure gold in exchange for a wreath crown to be made out of the gold that the had provided. Archimedes had a plan, and this plan was to take a bath.
In the last post, we mentioned that the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes had to find a way to ascertain whether or not King Hiero II had been cheated by a goldsmith. We also mentioned that the solution was connected to taking a bath and now we’ll tell you what a bath and gold have in common. The king had given the goldsmith pure gold and asked that a laurel-wreath crown be fashioned out of that gold.
After being presented with the gold crown, the king suspected foul play, but he had no way to be certain. The king suspected that the goldsmith might have mixed the gold with another metal and then formed the crown to make it look as if it were made of pure gold. Since the crown was equivalent in weight to the amount of gold that the king had given the goldsmith, how could there be any thought of deception? Had the goldsmith used silver, the crown would have weighed less, right?
While stepping into his bathtub one day, Archimedes notices that the water rose when he got into the tub. Since he was a mathematical genius, Archimedes was able to apply this observation in a way that may have escaped some of us. The change in water level lead him to think about volume. If submerged in water, he reasoned that the gold crown should displace the same amount of water as a piece of solid gold. If they were to compare the volume of a piece of solid gold that was equivalent to the piece the king had given the goldsmith to the volume of the crown, they would know the truth.
Legend has it that Archimedes was so excited that he jumped out of the tub and ran through the streets naked crying. “Eureka!” Amazing how we can be so thrilled by our work, isn’t it. A gold buyer will be thrilled to give you cash for gold, although he or she will not throw caution to the wind as Archimedes did.
Luckily for you, you do not have to meet with a gold buyer to have your gold submerged in water when you want to sell gold. There are more advanced methods of measuring gold content now. You can mail your gold in to have it evaluated and calmly wait for the response, knowing that you will not have to worry about upsetting the king.