Claw of Archimedes Claw of Archimedes The Claw (, "harpágē", "snatcher") of Archimedes (also known as the "iron hand") was an ancient weapon devised by Archimedes to defend the seaward portion of Syracuse's city wall against amphibious assault. Although its exact nature is unclear, the accounts of ancient historians seem to describe it as a sort of crane equipped with a grappling hook that was able to lift an attacking ship partly out of the water, then either cause the ship to capsize or suddenly drop it. These machines featured prominently during the Second Punic War in 214 BC, when the Roman Republic
Archimedes number forced convection dominates. When the density difference is due to heat transfer (e.g. fluid being heated and causing a temperature difference between different parts of the fluid), then we may write where: Doing this gives the Grashof number, i.e. the Archimedes and Grashof numbers are equivalent but suited to describing situations where there is a material difference in density and heat transfer causes the density difference respectively. The Archimedes number is related to both the Richardson number and Reynolds number via Archimedes number In viscous fluid dynamics, the Archimedes number (Ar) (not to be confused with Archimedes' constant, π), named