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Re this edit: There are not many versions of the story that refer to "Archimedes and the golden wreath"; I've never come across this before. This is because Vitruvius uses the word corona, which is usually translated into English as crown. As Chris Rorres points out, other historical research suggests that the crown would likely have been in the shape of a wreath.[1]. Since Vitruvius does not give the exact shape of the crown, there is some WP:OR in assuming that it would have been a wreath, so it is safer not to put it into his voice. ♦IanMacM♦(talk to me) 11:08, 25 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The etymology of the word "crown", Latin corona, is indeed complex (see here [3]). Our image of a crown (e.g., The Crown) likely descends from the ancient diadem, not the wreath. Diadems began to replace wreaths as symbols of power and victory towards the end of Late Antiquity, as the ancient games, where wreaths were used, were no longer held sometime in the 5th century AD (see here and here for some examples). Vitruvius, however, lived in the 1st century BC, and for his readers a corona meant in all likelihood a wreath. In any case, this is too intricate for a regular reader to know, and your solution (i.e. mentioning the crown was likely a votive wreath) is sensible enough and should suffice for now. Thanks. -- Guillermind81 (talk) 16:01, 25 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
In the new Indiana Jones film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Jones goes on a search for the Archimedes Dial, a device capable of time travel. It is based on the Antikythera mechanism.[4] This hasn't been added to the article yet, because the film is not released until 30 June in the USA. It probably will get added, but it runs into problems with WP:POPCULTURE, because it is not directly related to Archimedes other than the name, and there is no evidence that Archimedes designed the Antikythera mechanism. ♦IanMacM♦(talk to me) 09:09, 28 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with your assessment, as there was never an "Archimedes dial" and certainly not one that can travel through time. We do not know who built the Antikythera mechanism either but the evidence collected suggest it was likely not Archimedes. I know the temptation that adding such cultural references could bring more traffic to the article but I think popular cultural references that are so incidental to the person of Archimedes (such as that of the latest Indiana Jones movie) are better housed elsewhere. -- Guillermind81 (talk) 02:56, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The release of the film worked wonders for the page views of this article, up from an average of around 2,500 a day to over 30,000 on 2 July. It's probably the first time that Archimedes has been a character in a big budget Hollywood movie, and he is played by Nasser Memarzia.[5] The key WP:POPCULTURE requirement is sourcing showing why something is notable, and the film has very little to do with the actual work of Archimedes.--♦IanMacM♦(talk to me) 07:14, 6 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Remove metal bar demonstration (not relevant and explanation is wrong)[edit]
Measurement of volume by displacement, (a) before and (b) after an object has been submerged. The amount by which the liquid rises in the cylinder (∆V) is equal to the volume of the object.
The section Archimedes' principle (anectode about volume of gold crown and bath; permalink) includes a demonstration. I am proposing to remove this demonstration because it is not related to the corresponding text, and because the explanation in the caption is incorrect:
The demonstration is related to Archimedes' principle (separate article), but it's not related to the anecdote in question (which is only about using displacement to measure volume). The idea that "the submerged crown would displace an amount of water equal to its own volume" is so simple that I don't think it requires any demonstration, and the current demonstration only creates confusion because it is counterintuitive and not related to the text.
The caption says "A metal bar, placed into a container of water on a scale, displaces as much water as its own volume, increasing the mass of the container's contents and weighing down the scale." This is is incorrect. To see why, suppose the metal bar was replaced by an object of the same shape but with near-zero density. The container would still lower, even though no mass is "added" (whatever that means). The correct explanation is buoyancy: the water exerts an upward force on the object proportional to the displaced volume, and by Newton's Third Law the object exerts an equal and opposite force on the water, pushing the container down. The description of the file explains this correctly.
The story told by Vitruvius says only that Archimedes noticed that the water level of the bath rose as he got in, which is displacement of a fluid, and could be used to measure the volume of the crown. The video isn't what Vitruvius said so it is not a direct illustration. I also think that the video could be removed without a great loss. The illustration of the screw in the water is what Vitruvius actually says.--♦IanMacM♦(talk to me) 18:31, 14 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
That illustration is perfect, thanks for finding it! (I did look earlier but couldn't find anything.) I'll go ahead and replace the video with this illustration in a couple of days if there are no objections. -- Hddqsb (talk) 08:03, 16 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I've gone ahead and swapped the video for the new image. Displacement-measurement.svg was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons in April 2022 so it is a relatively new image there. It does fit in with the text of the Vitruvius anecdote a lot better than the video.--♦IanMacM♦(talk to me) 09:51, 16 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! -- Hddqsb (talk) 15:54, 17 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
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