ABSTRACT
Archimedes’ boastful claim about moving the earth is related to the principle of the lever which was discussed in the first book of his work On the Equilibrium of Planes. This work is mainly concerned with establishing the centres of gravity of various plane figures, completely flat figures, but the law of the lever that magnitudes balance at distances from the fulcrum in inverse ratio to their weights is the reason that Archimedes is often called the founder of theoretical mechanics. If the earth rotated, the Greeks wondered why there was not a persistent wind in the opposite direction to the rotation. If the earth was in motion around the sun, again the ancients wondered why there was not a wind blowing them off the surface of the earth. Their physics did not predict that the earth would carry its air with it, if it was in motion.
