Elephant Rescued Using Archimedes’ Principle
A Twitter video is going viral showcasing an elephant rescue using Archimedes’ Principle. What is this principle and how did it help an elephant in India? Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician and scientist. While he had many ideas and theories, one that he is notable for is the Archimedes’ Principle. In one of his books On Floating Bodies he wrote that if an object is submerged or stuck in a liquid, is raised up by a force. The buoyancy force is equal to its fluid weight difference. So how did this help the elephant rescue efforts in West Bengal?
According to District Forest Officer (DFO) Sandeep Berwal, they received a call about a stuck elephant around 1am in the morning. The team of forest ranges came to its aid and formed a plan. In order to help the elephant that is stuck in the ditch they used the principle of buoyancy. They decided to flood the ditch with water to help the elephant rise and essential get out of the sticky situation. Did it work? After some struggling and rope assistance by the team, the elephant was free.
Video Of Elephant Rescue
Another day, another pachyderm get into trouble on 21/02/2022 at 1am in #Medinipur, no issue @WbdfSocial #Forest dept. Dedicated to serve… few lessons of #swimming and learning about #buoyancy, the #Elephant was #rescued and guided safely into #FOREST by 4am. Thanks to all.. pic.twitter.com/ahQi0NgQgP
— sandeepberwal@IFS (@sandeepberwal) February 21, 2022
Science in Rescue
While there is no video of the elephant going into the forest, the mission was a success. By 4am, the team had led the elephant into the forest and away from the ditch. This is one story that has a happy ending! We hope that the elephant or others will not come to the same location and have different faiths.
What do you think about the rescue? Would you have done anything differently? I was never a fan of science until I took physics in college. This is where my interest in science peeked and I was able to actually comprehend it. If you have a child that is struggling with science, show them videos like these that help them relate to the subject. Do experiments to test the theory and who knows, maybe they will end up saving an elephant too, using the Archimedes’ Principle.
