Archimede Exhibition Gallery

Inclined planes for constructing pyramids

Herodotus described huge ramps which Egyptian workers used to move stone blocks when constructing the pyramids. An epic feat which was achieved utilising the simple properties of the inclined plane.

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Herodotus Machine

The ancient Egyptians took advantage of lever systems in order to lift heavy weights. Herodotus' description of such machines is good evidence of this.

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Interactive Lever

The lever is a simple machine which has many ancient and modern day applications. This interactive exhibit is a fun educational game which allows visitors to discover the principals of the lever for themselves.

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Launch of the Syracusa ship

How would you launch the largest ship of ancient times? Archimedes used multiple pulleys and helicoidal (corkscrew) mechanisms and the ramp!

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Archimedes screw

An interactive model about the study of spiral, similar to the modern propeller

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Shaduf

Invented in Ancient Egypt the Shaduf is a special type of lever which can be easily used to manually lift large quantities of water from a well or reservoir.

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Hand of Iron

The Iron Hand was an extraordinary machine shrouded in history and legend. It is written that Archimedes used all of the technology in his arsenal; levers, pulleys and gears to create a machine that could "hook” and capsize Roman ships besieging his home city of Syracuse.

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The Inclined Plane

Although Archimedes was the first to study the mathematical properties of the inclined plane in great detail, we had to wait for Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo before the properties of the inclined plane were incorporated into contemporary physics.

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Mechanical Paradox

Through the study of gravity and the equilibrium of bodies Archimedes discovered the centre of mass of systems. His curiosity and inventiveness led him to create the so called “mechanical paradox” a device that appears to roll up a slope!
Uncover the mysteries of the paradox for yourself in this astonishing interactive exhibit!

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Buoyancy

The famous Archimedes Principle (of buoyancy) and hydrostatics are explained by this simple interactive model.

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Heron's Turbine

Heron's turbine (engine) was developed to utilise steam power in order to create movement and transform energy. The same principals were used by British engineers to design the machines of the Industrial Revolution nearly 1800 years later!

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Heron's Theatre

Using his knowledge of convection currents Heron created an entirely automatic carousel for performances known as Heron's Theatre.

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Parabolic Mirrors for Sound Transmission

Archimedes' supreme knowledge of parabolic mirrors had many diverse applications. In this design two mirrors are used to transmit sounds from one mirror to another (with greater amplification near the centre of each mirror).

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Parabolic Mirage (Hologram)

Archimedes writes that the "fire" of a parabola reflects the image of an object contained within two parabolas overlapped. The result is this incredible modern hologram display!

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Polyhedrons

Archimedes studied the properties of multifaceted 3D shapes and geometric figures, such as the truncated polyhedron.

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Stomachion

Archimedes developed the Stomachion a type of ancient Greek puzzle. Archimedes used the Stomachion to help him solve difficult mathematical calculations.

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Steam Cannon

This steam powered military cannon is described by renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, who admits to having copied the project from the lost texts of his greatest teacher from antiquity. Leonardo writes “(this machine) belongs to Archimedes of Syracuse'.

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SOLAR-HYDRO ENERGY EXPERIMENT

The apparatus required to construct a Hellenistic solar-hydro energy machine is basic: a parabolic mirror, a lamp (to mimic the sun’s rays), a copper ball full of water to mimic Heron's Turbine and two water vessels which are connected to the copper ball via pipes. When a gas is heated its molecules can 'pick up' energy, in other words they are pushed out of their state of equilibrium and assume a state of excited motion as long as they remain heated.

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