Archimedes was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, engineer, and inventor. He might be possibly considered the world's best Scientist. He made so many astonishing inventions and discoveries of his time (third century B.C), many of which are still useful up till today. His discoveries and inventions shall be discussed in this post, some of which includes:

• Archimedes screw
• Claws of Archimedes
• Archimedes death ray or burning mirror
• Archimedes catapult and stone thrower
• Odometer
• Archimedes lever and tackle pulley system
• The Geometry of sphere and cylinders
• The measurement of the circle
• Orrery
• Archimedes' principle of floatation or principle of buoyancy

It will be a great deal to discuss some of the discoveries and inventions listed above.
Let's get started!

Some Archimedes discoveries and inventions

Archimedes screw
Archimedes screw is a device consisting of a corkscrew mechanism (a helical surface surrounding a central cylindrical shaft) with a hollow tube. It can be operated manually or by the use of windmill. As the shaft is turned, the bottom end of the screw moves or slide up a volume of water through the spiral tube, until some volume of water pours out from the top of the tube. The volume of water being scooped depends on the size of the hollow tube and also the speed of the screw that is being powered manually or through a windmill.

The screw mechanism was designed in such a way that each turn of the screw scoops a large volume of water greater than the volume linking back to the next lower shaft to enhance mechanical equilibrium. Initially, the device was designed to scoop out or to empty sea water out of the ship's hull to keep the ship safely afloat, but due to its several usefulness, it is being used as farm irrigation system in some developing countries.

flickr.com

Archimedes death ray or burning mirror
Due to the strong intention of Archimedes to defend the city of Syracuse where he lived from the strongholds of Marcellus’s army, he invented a mechanism of solar radiation focused by an array of parabolic mirrors. A device referred to as Archimedes death ray or burning mirror. The parabolic mirrors were arranged in a way such that when rays of light fall on the mirrors, the reflections produced were capable to set Marcellus’s army ships ablaze. It was an amazing technology of his time which demonstrated how to set ablaze a static or stationary object from a distance with a focus on solar radiation from a parabolic mirror.

The technology behind this invention was questioned by latter scientist, wanting to know the focal length and the light gathering power of the mirror which made it possible to be used as a weapon of war. Some people who also heard about the mysterious invention also commented that such a thing may not have been possible due to the fact that the method would only prove effective and possible if only the weather conditions favour the working principle of the device.

From little findings I made, It was found out that about 70 mirrors were placed around the Roman ships at a distance of 160ft away from the target ship. Immediately light is concentrated on the mirrors and the reflections reach the ship, it just burst into flames. The flames are made possible perhaps because tar paint was used frequently as a coating on ships back in the day. Tar paint is highly flammable.

By Finnrind (original); Pbroks13 (talk) (redraw) - Image:Archimedes Heat Ray conceptual diagram.png, CC BY-SA 3.0,

Archimedes lever and tackle pulley system
Archimedes designed a block and tackle pulley system which work on the principle of leverage. The leverage system consists of a system of pully and rope, designed to lift a heavy load that is naturally too heavy to move, The principle is being used by sailors to lift heavy loads from the seashore into the ship. While Archimedes did not invent a lever, he gave a detailed description of the principle of equilibrium of a plane. Archimedes was so certain about the power of lever, he said: "give me a place to stand on and with a lever, I will move the earth".

The law of Lever explains that magnitudes are in equilibrium at some distances that is reciprocally proportional to the weights involved, that is, equal weight at an equal distance is in equilibrium and equal weight at an unequal distance is not in equilibrium, but the angle of inclination will be toward distance with greater magnitude. The principle was demonstrated by Archimedes using a system of a compound pulley and a rope to single-handedly lunch the biggest ship of Syracuse with complete crew onboard into the sea.

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By Themightyquill - This file was derived from:Block and tackle (PSF).png, CC BY-SA 4.0,

Claws of Archimedes
In continuation of the quest of Archimedes to defend the city of Syracuse, a war machine was constructed. Based on the structure of the weapon, it was referred to as the claw of Archimedes and based on its function, it was called "the ship shaker". The arm was made from a large metal hook attached to a crane-like arm. The arm was designed to grip enemy ship in an upward position, lifting it out of the water and suddenly drops it at a height for the ship to sink. This machine was one of the prominent weapon used during the second Punic War in 214 BC. It was reported that the war machine kept the Romans army away from the city Syracuse for two years.

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By Giulio Parigi - Public Domain,

Archimedes catapult and stone thrower
This is one of the artilleries invented by Archimedes. Various forms and sizes of this artillery were constructed to cover a different range of distance. The machine was made up of a ratchet, a system of lever, pawl, slider, string cord bundle, counter stanchion e.t.c. Several numbers of the machine were produced to defend the wall of Syracuse against the Romans army. While the Roman ships are still at some distance from the wall of Syracuse, the catapult and the stone thrower were used to throw many heavy stones at them.

The stones were heavy enough to cause severe damage to the ship of the enemy, thereby causing many of the ships to sink before getting to the wall of Syracuse. The stones have an average weight of 500 lbs. He also designed smaller catapults having an average height of a man, arranged in rows within the wall. The catapults are designed to shoot iron darts, they were used to drive away marines trying to climb the wall.

By Pearson Scott Foresman - Archives of Pearson Scott Foresman, donated to the Wikimedia FoundationThis file has been extracted from another file: PSF B-70006.png, Public Domain

Summary

Archimedes was a man whose scientific discoveries and inventions are used throughout fields of science. He made so many inventions in his lifetime to protect the city he lived. Those inventions and discoveries kept Roman army away from Syracuse for many years. It was so painful to record that Archimedes died from the sword of one of the Roman soldiers who was so furious at Archimedes when the Roman army finally invaded the city of Syracuse.

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References

1. https://www.livescience.com/58839-archimedes-principle.html
2. https://sciencestruck.com/inventions-of-archimedes
3. https://about-history.com/the-inventions-of-archimedes-that-are-still-in-use-today/
4. http://archimedesjack.weebly.com/discoveries-and-inventions.html
5. https://www.hexapolis.com/2015/07/07/4-remarkable-inventions-of-archimedes-that-still-baffle-us/2/