Archimedes' Principle and Crown (2B40.20)

Description:

A spring scale supports a plastic bottle and an aluminum cylinder on a string. The aluminum cylinder is lowered into a water bath and the displaced water that spills out is collected in a large beaker. The weight reduction of the cylinder is noted on the scale. Then the water that was displaced is poured into the plastic bottle tied to the scale and the scale reading returns to its original value, showing that the buoyant force is equal to the weight of water displaced. Can be repeated with an irregularly shaped object (a gold crown) to find that it is, unfortunately, a fake.

Procedure or Operation Notes:

The Aluminum cylinder is of an unknown alloy with the following dimensions:
Diameter: 8.9 cm.
Length: 15.2 cm.
Mass: 2.73 kg.

References, Comments, or Footnotes:

1) The Golden Crown by Chris Rorres, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Drexel University; has more historical information and a critique of the Archimedes' Crown story originally told by Vitruvius.