DICK:You join me in the bath where today we go inside one of the greatest scientific minds this world has ever seen.
DICK:He was famous for coming up with the genius idea whilst in the bath. Not only was he a fantastic mathematician and engineer but his genius machines are still being used today.
DOM:He did all of this over 2000 years ago.
DICK:Why are you in my bath?
DOM:I, I, I don't know.
DICK:Ladies and gentlemen, we give you, Archimedes.
ARCHIMEDES:Why are you in his bath Dom?
DICK:'Archimedes was a Greek guy with a great beard. Born a ridiculously long time ago around the year 287 B.C.
DOM:'Archimedes was a genius when it came to maths, physics and engineering. He was so clever, he was hired to solve tricky problems by the king of Syracuse.
1000:00:52:11 00:01:00:00DICK:'He came up with brilliant theories about why objects float and he built amazing machines to help defend the kings city against attack.'
DICK:You might know the story of Archimedes being in a bath nd coming up with a fantastic idea that helped him solve a problem that had been puzzling him for ages.
DOM:He was so excited about solving this problem that he jumped out of the bath, nudey, shouting out, "Eureka, eureka!"
DICK:In Greek, that means "I've got it, I've got it!"
DOM:But what exactly had he got?
DICK:If only Fran, our genius scientist, was here to tell us more.
FRAN:So Archimedes was working on a problem that had been set by the king because the king didn't know whether his crown was made of pure gold or not.
DOM:So it was at that moment in the bath that Archimedes solved the problem.
FRAN:Yeah.
DICK:But why did he get so excited about that?
FRAN:Well the thing is, his solution didn't just allow him to work out whether crowns were made out of pure gold or not, it allowed him to figure out why things float and why things sink and that is much more useful. Come with me.
DOM:I mean, we're not complaining or anything Fran but what's all this got to do with Archimedes?
FRAN:He knew that different materials could weigh the same but you get different amounts of material for that same weight.
DOM:So what your saying is, basically you get some light and fluffy marshmallows you get loads of them for 100g.
FRAN:Yeah.
DICK:Ah, but only a few aniseed balls.
FRAN:Exactly, and Archimedes figured out that, the more of a material you get for that certain weight, the more likely it is to float. If you don't believe me, let's try it.
DICK:Ah, sinkage.
DOM:Sinkage. So–
DICK:Get them in. Come on.
DOM:There you are. Floating!
DICK:Ah, eureka!
DOM:Eureka!
ARCHIMEDES:I'll say!
DICK:'Until Archimedes came along more than 2000 years ago, building a ship that would float well, was always a trial and error operation.'
DOM:I mean there's no doubt, Archimedes was a really clever bloke.
DICK:Look there's something else here. "He set to catch the full rays of the sun at noon." He's saying here that he set fire to boats.
DICK:'2000 years ago Archimedes made a special heat ray to defend his city walls against attack from Roman ships. By cleverly positioning mirrors, Archimedes caught the sun's rays and concentrated them to make one amazingly hot heat ray.'
FRAN:I've actually got a specially shaped mirror here for you.
DOM:Oh yeah? What can we set on fire?
FRAN:I don't know.
DICK:Ah, just like Archimedes did.
DOM:What?
DICK:Let's set fire to a boat.
DOM:Where are you going to find a big red boat–
DICK:There, there.
DOM:Oh.
FRAN:Right in you come. Pop your safety specs on because what we've got here is a heat lamp.
FRAN:And we're gonna use this along with this other mirror as our artificial sun.
DOM:So that's kind of like your sun and this is the reflector which is gonna be generating the heat et cetera, yes?
FRAN:Yeah.
DOM:Well we can't exactly set fire to a boat in here though can we?
FRAN:Well no. That's why I've got two other things to show you. Firstly this stuff, fuse wire and that we can ignite in here but then that'll take the flame outside where we can light the boat at a safe distance.
FRAN:I've also got this stuff.
DICK:What? Cotton wool?
DOM:No, no, no, this is flash wool. You know. You remember me using this stuff as a magician. It just bursts into flames and then disappears.
FRAN:Yeah, like this.
DOM:Go on then ready.
DICK:That's my BBC pass.
DOM:Oh right.
DOM:'Now, don't copy this at home. We're doing this as a controlled experiment but setting fire to stuff in your back garden, is a no-no.
DICK:In three, two, one, go.
BANG
DOM:Ah!
DICK:Woah!
DOM:Come on! Right, it's alight.
DOM:There she goes, slowly and steadily to the boat down there but what's in the boat?
DICK:I'll tell you what's in the boat. A nice, combustible bag of tricks.
6800:04:36:04 00:04:40:07DOM:'This is finally it… or is it?
DOM:That boat's absolutely fine. A failed experiment. No bangs, flashes…
DOM:whooshes.
DICK:F, f, f, FIRE!
DOM:Eureka! We've done it.
LAUGHS
DICK:Archimedes, you are an absolute genius.
Video summary
Dick, Dom and Fran Scott from 'Absolute Genius' describe the life and scientific work of Archimedes.
This Greek scientist was born in 287 BC.
He is famous for his important discoveries in maths, physics, and engineering, but he is best known for his work on floating and sinking.
Dick and Dom put his design for a heat ray to the test by using it to set fire to a boat.
This short film is from the CBBC series, Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom.
In this entertaining series Dick and Dom learn about the geniuses whose ideas, creations and discoveries have shaped our world.
Teacher Notes
This short film is ideally suited to introducing students to the significant achievements of Archimedes.
It could set the scene for a project on this or other famous historical scientists.
This short film is suitable for teaching science at Key Stage 2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Second Level in Scotland.
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