ben franklin electricity experiments

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Benjamin Franklin’s Kite Experiment: What Do We Know?

By: Becky Little

Updated: June 14, 2023 | Original: June 6, 2022

On June 10, 1752, Benjamin Franklin took a kite out during a storm to see if a key attached to the string would draw an electrical charge. Or so the story goes. In fact, historians aren’t quite sure about the date of Franklin’s famous experiment, and some have questioned whether it took place at all.

Even if Franklin’s kite and key experiment did happen, it didn’t play out the way many people think it did. Contrary to popular myths, Franklin didn’t conduct the experiment to prove the existence of electricity. In addition, it’s very unlikely that lightning struck a key while Franklin was flying a kite—because if it had, Franklin probably would have died.

Franklin Didn't Write Much About the Experiment

Everything we know about Franklin’s kite and key experiment comes from two sources . The first is a letter Franklin wrote to his friend Peter Collinson in October 1752 that was published in the The Pennsylvania Gazette and read before the Royal Society. The second is a section of Joseph Priestley’s 1767 book History and Present Status of Electricity , in which Priestley recounted what Franklin had presumably told him about the experiment.

In the letter, Franklin wrote that an “Experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia” using a kite and key, and detailed how one could go about reproducing the experiment. He didn’t specify when the experiment took place or whether he had actually conducted it. Fifteen years later, Priestley provided some more details, writing that 46-year-old Franklin and his 22-year-old son William had conducted the experiment sometime in June 1752.

Scholars of Franklin have speculated that the experiment occurred around June 10, though no one really knows what date it happened on. Some have theorized that it occurred later in 1752, while others have questioned whether it happened at all, or at least acknowledged that there is room for doubt.

“The episode of the kite, so firm and fixed in legend, turns out to be dim and mystifying in fact,” wrote Carl Van Doren in his 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Benjamin Franklin . The legendary aspect of the kite and key experiment has led many people believe, incorrectly, that it marked the discovery of electricity.

Ben Franklin Didn't Discover Electricity

Electricity was already a known phenomenon during the mid-18th century. There were, however, debates about the nature of this phenomenon, and Franklin was one of a group of philosophers and scientists who theorized that lightning was a form of electricity.

In March 1750, Franklin wrote a letter to his friend Collinson about his idea for a lightning rod. That July, he published an idea for an experiment using a lightning rod to try and catch an electrical charge in a “leyden jar,” a storage container for electrical charges, thus demonstrating that lightning was a form of electricity.

Franklin’s ideas circulated in Europe, and in May 1752, two French scientists—Thomas Dalibard and M. Delor—separately carried out successful versions of Franklin’s experiment. According to Priestley, Franklin hadn’t yet heard of these successes in June 1752, when he was waiting on the construction of a spire to conduct his own lightning rod experiment.

Apparently, Franklin decided that instead of waiting for the spire, he could test his theory by flying a kite with a key attached to its string when he sensed an approaching thunderstorm. “[D]reading the ridicule which too commonly attends unsuccessful attempts in science, he communicated his intended experiment to noone but his son, who assisted him in raising the kite,” Priestley wrote.

Ben Franklin Didn't Get Struck By Lightning

So what would this experiment have actually looked like? Although many artists have tried to depict it, “most of the pictures and drawings that you see depicting Franklin in this experiment are inaccurate,” says Harold D. Wallace Jr. , a curator in the division of work and industry at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

“They show Franklin standing out in the middle of a field,” he says, “whereas most likely he and William were inside some kind of shed or lean-to or something to keep them from getting rained on, in case the rain did start.” (Franklin likely started the experiment after sensing lightning in the air, but before any rain began to fall, says Wallace.)

Franklin’s goal probably wasn’t for the kite and key to get struck by lightning; and indeed, Priestley never claimed that they were struck by lightning. If they had been , Franklin would’ve almost certainly died or at least been seriously injured (in 1753, the German scientist Georg Wilhelm Reichmann died while trying to conduct Franklin’s lightning rod experiment).

What probably happened is that the key picked up some ambient electrical charge from the storm. Priestley wrote that Franklin touched the key and felt the charge, confirming he had caught some electricity from the lightning.

Even if Franklin never actually performed the kite and key experiment, he did come up with the lightning rod idea that others tested. Together, these experiments helped prove that lightning was a form of electricity that people could harness, both to protect tall buildings from damage and to perform more experiments.

“The idea of mitigating natural dangers is such a big game changer,” says Michael Madeja , head of education programs at the American Philosophical Society Library and Museum. “The lightning rod also helped provide a decent source of charge for things like leyden jars or other electrical experiments.”

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Benjamin Franklin and the Kite Experiment

We all know the story of Franklin’s famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment. But is it the true story?

On a June afternoon in 1752, the sky began to darken over the city of Philadelphia. As rain began to fall and lightning threatened, most of the city’s citizens surely hurried inside. But not Benjamin Franklin. He decided it was the perfect time to go fly a kite.

Franklin had been waiting for an opportunity like this. He wanted to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning, and to do so, he needed a thunderstorm.

He had his materials at the ready: a simple kite made with a large silk handkerchief, a hemp string, and a silk string. He also had a house key, a Leyden jar (a device that could store an electrical charge for later use), and a sharp length of wire. His son William assisted him.

Franklin had originally planned to conduct the experiment atop a Philadelphia church spire, according to his contemporary, British scientist Joseph Priestley (who, incidentally, is credited with discovering oxygen), but he changed his plans when he realized he could achieve the same goal by using a kite.

So Franklin and his son “took the opportunity of the first approaching thunder storm to take a walk into a field,” Priestley wrote in his account. “To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. Franklin, astonishing as it must have appeared, contrived actually to bring lightning from the heavens, by means of an electrical kite, which he raised when a storm of thunder was perceived to be coming on.”

Despite a common misconception, Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity during this experiment—or at all, for that matter. Electrical forces had been recognized for more than a thousand years, and scientists had worked extensively with static electricity. Franklin’s experiment demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity.

The Experiment To dispel another myth, Franklin’s kite was not struck by lightning. If it had been, he probably would have been electrocuted, experts say. Instead, the kite picked up the ambient electrical charge from the storm.

Here’s how the experiment worked: Franklin constructed a simple kite and attached a wire to the top of it to act as a lightning rod. To the bottom of the kite he attached a hemp string, and to that he attached a silk string. Why both? The hemp, wetted by the rain, would conduct an electrical charge quickly. The silk string, kept dry as it was held by Franklin in the doorway of a shed, wouldn’t.

The last piece of the puzzle was the metal key. Franklin attached it to the hemp string, and with his son’s help, got the kite aloft. Then they waited. Just as he was beginning to despair, Priestley wrote, Franklin noticed loose threads of the hemp string standing erect, “just as if they had been suspended on a common conductor.”

Franklin moved his finger near the key, and as the negative charges in the metal piece were attracted to the positive charges in his hand, he felt a spark.

“Struck with this promising appearance, he immediately presented his knucle [sic] to the key, and (let the reader judge of the exquisite pleasure he must have felt at that moment) the discovery was complete. He perceived a very evident electric spark,” Priestley wrote.

Using the Leyden jar, Franklin “collected electric fire very copiously,” Priestley recounted. That “electric fire”—or electricity—could then be discharged at a later time.

Franklin’s own description of the event appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 19, 1752. In it he gave instructions for re-creating the experiment, finishing with:

As soon as any of the Thunder Clouds come over the Kite, the pointed Wire will draw the Electric Fire from them, and the Kite, with all the Twine, will be electrified, and the loose Filaments of the Twine will stand out every Way, and be attracted by an approaching Finger. And when the Rain has wet the Kite and Twine, so that it can conduct the Electric Fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the Key on the Approach of your Knuckle. At this Key the Phial may be charg’d; and from Electric Fire thus obtain’d, Spirits may be kindled, and all the other Electric Experiments be perform’d, which are usually done by the Help of a rubbed Glass Globe or Tube; and thereby the Sameness of the Electric Matter with that of Lightning compleatly demonstrated.

Franklin wasn’t the first to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. A month earlier it was successfully done by Thomas-François Dalibard in northern France. And a year after Franklin’s kite experiment, Baltic physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann attempted a similar trial but was killed when he was struck by ball lightning (a rare weather phenomenon).

After his successful demonstration, Franklin continued his work with electricity, going on to perfect his lightning rod invention. In 1753, he received the prestigious Copley Medal from the Royal Society, in recognition of his “curious experiments and observations on electricity.”

By Nancy Gupton. Published June 12, 2017.

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Did Benjamin Franklin really discover electricity with a kite and key?

Did the founding father really discover electricity?

On a dark, stormy summer night in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite with a key attached to the string waiting in anticipation for lightning to strike. The dramatic bolt would harken the discovery of electricity (or as Franklin called it "electrical fire") … or so the story goes.

But is there any truth to this tale? Did Franklin really discover electricity by getting zapped by a lightning bolt during this experiment?

Though most people know Benjamin Franklin — an American founding father, legendary statesman and the face of the U.S. $100 bill — for his political contributions, Franklin was well known in his time as a scientist and an inventor: a true polymath. He was a member of several scientific societies and was a founding member of the American Philosophical Society. As a result, he stayed informed on the most pressing scientific questions that occupied learned people of his time, one of which was the nature of lightning.

As for the kite-and-key experiment, most people are aware of the version in which the metal key acted as a lightning rod, and Franklin subsequently "discovered" electricity when lightning struck his kite. However, several details about this experiment are unknown, including when and where it happened. Some historians even doubt that it took place. 

Related: Did Benjamin Franklin really want the turkey to be the US national bird?

For starters, it's a common myth that Franklin discovered electricity. Electricity had already been discovered and used for centuries before Franklin's experiment. Franklin lived from 1709 to 1790, and during his time, electricity was understood as the interaction between two different fluids , which Franklin later referred to as "plus" and "minus." According to French chemist Charles François de Cisternay du Fay, materials that possessed the same type of fluid would repel, while opposite fluids attracted one another. We now understand that these "fluids" are electrical charges generated by atoms. Atoms are made up of negatively charged electrons orbiting a positively charged nucleus (made up of protons and neutrons).

It was unknown prior to Franklin's experiment whether lightning was electrical in nature, though some scientists, including Franklin, had speculated just that . Page Talbott, author and editor of " Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World " (Yale University Press, 2005) and the former president and CEO of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said that Franklin was particularly interested in this question because lightning strikes had caused disastrous fires in cities and towns where houses were made of wood, which many homes in the U.S. were at the time. "By attaching a key to the string of a kite, thus creating a conductor for the electrical charge , he was demonstrating that a pointed metal object placed at a high point on a building — connected to a conductor that would carry the electricity away from the building and into the ground — could make a huge difference to the long-term safety of the inhabitants," Talbott told Live Science in an email. In other words, by creating a lightning rod, Franklin was helping to protect wooden homes and buildings from being directly struck by lightning.

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Lightning rods are metal rods placed at the top of structures, connected to the ground with a wire. If lightning strikes the building, it will likely strike the electrically conductive rod instead of the building itself and safely run through the wire to the ground.

Here's how the experiment worked; standing in a shed, Franklin flew a kite, made of a simple silk handkerchief stretched across a cross made of two cedar strips, during a lightning storm. The tail of the kite was made of two materials — the upper end attached to the kite was made of hemp string and attached to a small metal key, while the lower end, held by Franklin, was made of silk. The hemp would get soaked by the rain and conduct electrical charge, while the silk string would remain dry because it is held under cover.

As Franklin observed his flying kite, he saw that the hemp strands stood on end as they began to accumulate electrical charge from the ambient air. When he placed his finger near the metal key, he reportedly felt a sharp spark as the negative charges that had accumulated on the key were attracted to the positive charges in his hand. 

A few publications at the time reported on the experiment. "[Franklin] published a statement about the experiment in the Pennsylvania Gazette , the newspaper he published, on October 19, 1752," Talbott said. He then sent the text of this statement to a patron of the American Philosophical Society named Louis Collinson; Franklin had spent the last few years communicating his theories and proposing his experiments concerning lightning to him.

Franklin referred to the experiment in his autobiography, and other colleagues in Europe wrote about it as well, Talbott said. Notably, the experiment appeared in the 1767 book " History and Present Status of Electricity " by Joseph Priestley, an English chemist. Priestley heard about the kite-and-key experiment from Franklin himself around 15 years after the fact, and in his book, he wrote that it occurred during June 1752. However, exactly when the experiment came to Franklin and when he did it is a matter of debate.

There are some historians who doubt whether Franklin actually did the experiment himself, or merely outlined its possibility. In his book " Bolt of Fate: Benjamin Franklin and His Electric Kite Hoax " (PublicAffairs, 2003), author Tom Tucker stated that Franklin wanted to thwart William Watson, a member of the Royal Society of London and a preeminent electrical experimenter. Watson had sabotaged the publication of some of Franklin's previous reports and had ridiculed his experiments in the Royal Society, Tucker wrote. Could Franklin have felt pressured to invent the kite story to get back at Watson?

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Tucker also noted that Franklin's description of his experiment in the Pennsylvania Gazette was phrased in the future conditional tense: "As soon as any of the Thunder Clouds come over the Kite, the pointed Wire will draw the Electric Fire from them..." Franklin could have simply been saying that the experiment could, in theory, be performed. Given that his statement has a few missing details — Franklin didn't list a date, time or location, for example — it's possible that the American diplomat did not perform the experiment himself.

However, some historians remain unconvinced that the experiment wasn't carried out, pointing to Franklin's great respect for scientific pursuits . Franklin experts, such as the late American critic and biographer Carl Van Doren, also point to the fact that Priestley specified the month in which Franklin performed his experiment, suggesting that Franklin must have given him precise details directly.

Originally published on Live Science.

Jacklin Kwan is a freelance journalist based in the United Kingdom who primarily covers science and technology stories. She graduated with a master's degree in physics from the University of Manchester, and received a Gold-Standard NCTJ diploma in Multimedia Journalism in 2021. Jacklin has written for Wired UK, Current Affairs and Science for the People. 

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Kite Experiment

Flying a kite in a storm was perhaps Benjamin Franklin’s most famous experiment that led to the invention of the lightning rod and the understanding of positive and negative charges. The connection between electricity and lightning was known but not fully understood. By conducting the kite experiment Franklin proved that lighting was an electrical discharge and realized that it can be charged over a conductor into the ground providing a safe alternative path and eliminating the risk of deadly fires.

Erecting iron rods

Iron rod experiment conducted by French scientist Thomas François Dalibard.

Franklin hypothesized that lightning was an electrical discharge. Before he thought of conducting his experiment by flying a kite, he proposed erecting iron rods into storm clouds to attract electricity from them. He also suggested that the tips of the rods should be pointed instead rounded so that they could draw electrical fire out of a cloud silently. Franklin speculated about its usefulness for several years as he was unable to perform his experiment since he thought it had to be  conducted from a higher ground. Philadelphia has a flat geography and at the time there were no tall structures, he was anxiously waiting for the construction of Christ Church that was being built on a steeple to conduct his experiment.

Franklin wrote his proposal for the iron rod experiment in a letter to Peter Collison who was a member of the Royal Society of London. Collison presented Franklin’s hypothesis to the Society who ridiculed and laughed at his idea failing to recognize its significance. A year later when the French translation was published it attracted the interest of French scientists Delor and Dalibard, who separately and successfully conducted Franklin’s experiment calling it the “Philadelphia experiment”.

Franklin was recognized by the Royal Society of London and in scientific circles all over Europe, becoming the most famous American in Europe.

Flying a kite

Franklin kept himself and the end of the string dry to protect himself from being electroshocked.

Franklin had not heard of the success of his experiment in Europe before he conducted the same experiment with a kite. One day in June 1752, it occurred to him that he could test his hypothesis by flying a kite instead of waiting for the church to be built. With the help of his son William he built the body of the kite with two crossed strips of cedar wood and a silk handkerchief instead of paper as it would not tear with wind and rain. They attached a foot long sharp and pointed wire to the top of the kite as a conductor and at the bottom end of the string where it is held they attached a silk ribbon and a metal key. A metal wire connected the key to the Leyden Jar.

Franklin kept dry by retreating into a barn; the end of the string was also kept dry to insulate himself. When the stormed passed over his kite the conductor drew electricity into his kite. The kite was not struck by lightning but the conductor drew negative charges from a charged cloud to the kite, string, metal key and Leyden jar. It appears that he knew enough about grounding to protect himself from being electroshocked. When he moved his hand near the key he received a shock because the negative charge attracted the positive charge in his body.

This is the description of the electric kite experiment in Franklin’s own words from the Pennsylvania Gazette dated October 19, 1752.

As frequent Mention is made in the News Papers from Europe, of the Success of the Philadelphia Experiment for drawing the Electric Fire from Clouds by Means of pointed Rods of Iron erected on high Buildings, &c. it may be agreeable to the Curious to be inform’d, that the same Experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, tho’ made in a different and more easy Manner, which any one may try, as follows.

Make a small Cross of two light Strips of Cedar, the Arms so long as to reach to the four Corners of a large thin Silk Handkerchief when extended; tie the Corners of the Handkerchief to the Extremities of the Cross, so you have the Body of a Kite; which being properly accommodated with a Tail, Loop and String, will rise in the Air, like those made of Paper; but this being of Silk is fitter to bear the Wet and Wind of a Thunder Gust without tearing. To the Top of the upright Stick of the Cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed Wire, rising a Foot or more above the Wood. To the End of the Twine, next the Hand, is to be tied a silk Ribbon, and where the Twine and the silk join, a Key may be fastened. This Kite is to be raised when a Thunder Gust appears to be coming on, and the Person who holds the String must stand within a Door, or Window, or under some Cover, so that the Silk Ribbon may not be wet; and Care must be taken that the Twine does not touch the Frame of the Door or Window. As soon as any of the Thunder Clouds come over the Kite, the pointed Wire will draw the Electric Fire from them, and the Kite, with all the Twine, will be electrified, and the loose Filaments of the Twine will stand out every Way, and be attracted by an approaching Finger. And when the Rain has wet the Kite and Twine, so that it can conduct the Electric Fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the Key on the Approach of your Knuckle. At this Key the Phial may be charg’d; and from Electric Fire thus obtain’d, Spirits may be kindled, and all the other Electric Experiments be perform’d, which are usually done by the Help of a rubbed Glass Globe or Tube; and thereby the Sameness of the Electric Matter with that of Lightning compleatly demonstrated.

In 1753 Franklin published an article in Poor Richard’s Almanac describing how to secure houses from lightning.

It has pleased God and his goodness mankind, at length to discover to them the means of securing their habitations and other buildings from mischief by thunder and lightning. The method is this: Provide a simall iron rod but of such a length that one end being three or four deet in the moist ground, the other may be six or eight feet above the highest part of the building. To the upper end of the rod fasten about a foot of brass wire, the size of a common knitting needle, sharpened to a fine point; the rod may be secured to the house by a few small staples. If the house or barn be ling, there may be a rod and point at each end, and a middling wire along the ridge from one to the other. A house thus furnished will not be damaged by lightning, it being attracted by the points and passing thro the metal into the ground without hurting anything.

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Experiments with electricity, inventions and improvements.

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Experiments and observations, [april 1751], experiments and observations, 1751.

Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America, by Mr. Benjamin Franklin, and Communicated in several Letters to Mr. P. Collinson, of London, F.R.S. London: Printed and sold by E. Cave, at St. John’s Gate. 1751. (Yale University Library)

Franklin’s reports on electricity had an immediate and favorable reception in England. 9 The first account of his experiments, which he sent to Collinson, May 25, 1747, though not read in the Royal Society, was shown to some of the members, particularly William Watson. Watson, who was the principal English electrician, warmly approved Franklin’s ideas (which he mistakenly believed corresponded with his own), 1 and in a paper presented to the Society, January 21, 1748, quoted three pages of Franklin’s letter. 2 Subsequent reports from Philadelphia Collinson communicated to the English philosophers in the same way. Franklin’s letters of April 29, 1749, on electricity and thundergusts, addressed respectively to Collinson and Dr. John Mitchell, were read in the Society in the fall of 1749, and were “Deservedly admired not only for the Clear Intelligent Stile, but also for the Novelty of the Subjects.” Franklin’s conjectures that earthquakes are caused by electricity were studied when earthquakes shook London in the spring of 1750, and William Stukeley explained the phenomenon entirely in terms of Franklin’s hypothesis. 3 A wider audience learned something of the Philadelphians’ work through the Gentleman’s Magazine . A short résumé of some of their experiments appeared in the January 1750 issue; 4 in May the editor printed Franklin’s letter to Collinson on pointed conductors, identifying the author only as “a Gentleman in America, whose ingenious Letters on this Subject will soon be published in a separate Pamphlet.” 5

For Franklin’s experiments and observations, though not printed in the Philosophical Transactions , were about to receive wider circulation and, because collected, have a greater impact. In February 1750 Collinson had written that he was collecting Franklin’s letters—five in all—“with Intention to putt them into some Printers Hand to be communicated to the Publick.” In April he reported that they had been given to Edward Cave, publisher of the Gentleman’s Magazine , and were “now on the Press under the Inspection and Correction of our Learned and Ingenious Friend Dr. Fothergill 6 —for Wee thought it a great Pitty that the Publick should be deprived the benefit of so many Curious Experiments.” After the immemorial manner of printers, Cave was dilatory, and even Collinson grew impatient. In December 1750 Cave reported that the Experiments were in press; 7 by February everything was ready except the engraved illustrations. The delay, however, gave Franklin time to make some additions and corrections and to send Collinson still another group of observations to include in the work. 8 The pamphlet finally appeared in April 1751. It was entitled Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America , and sold for 2 s. 6 d.

Enclosing an unfinished copy to a rural physician in Dorset in March, Dr. Fothergill explained that the author was “a Gentleman with whom I have corresponded, and who I think has said more sensible things on the subject, and let us see more into the nature of this delicate affair than all the other writers put together; … This little work … was published under my care, and so far as related to the press, my correction.” 9 Joseph Priestley, reviewing the history of electricity fifteen years later, asserted unequivocally, “Nothing was ever written upon the subject of electricity which was more generally read, and admired in all parts of Europe than these letters. There is hardly any European language into which they have not been translated; and, as if this were not sufficient to make them properly known, a translation of them has lately been made into Latin. 10 It is not easy to say, whether we are most pleased with the simplicity and perspicuity with which these letters are written, the modesty with which the author proposes every hypothesis of his own, or the noble frankness with which he relates his mistakes, when they were corrected by subsequent experiments.” 1

Fothergill’s “pretty preface,” as Collinson called it, is printed herewith, and below it is a list of the contents of the 1751 edition. The title of each paper is followed in brackets by the pages in Volume iii or iv of the present edition where the text is reprinted, together with any other information required to correct or supplement the heading as first printed. The plate of illustrations included in the 1751 edition is reproduced, facing p. 130. 2

The Preface.

It may be necessary to acquaint the reader, that the following observations and experiments were not drawn up with a view to their being made publick, but were communicated at different times, and most of them in letters wrote on various topicks, as matters only of private amusement.

But some persons to whom they were read, and who had themselves been conversant in electrical disquisitions, were of opinion, they contain’d so many curious and interesting particulars relative to this affair, that it would be doing a kind of injustice to the publick, to confine them solely to the limits of a private acquaintance.

The Editor was therefore prevailed upon to commit such extracts of letters, and other detach’d pieces as were in his hands to the press, without waiting for the ingenious author’s permission so to do; and this was done with the less hesitation, as it was apprehended the author’s engagements in other affairs, would scarce afford him leisure to give the publick his reflections and experiments on the subject, finish’d with that care and precision, of which the treatise before us shews he is alike studious and capable. He was only apprized of the step that had been thus taken, while the first sheets were in the press, and time enough for him to transmit some farther remarks, together with a few corrections and additions, which are placed at the end, and may be consulted in the perusal.

The experiments which our author relates are most of them peculiar to himself; they are conducted with judgment, and the inferences from them plain and conclusive; though sometimes proposed under the terms of suppositions and conjectures.

And indeed the scene he opens, strikes us with a pleasing astonishment, whilst he conducts us by a train of facts and judicious reflections, to a probable cause of those phaenomena, which are at once the most awful, and, hitherto, accounted for with the least verisimilitude.

He exhibits to our consideration, an invisible, subtile matter, disseminated through all nature in various proportions, equally unobserved, and, whilst all those bodies to which it peculiarly adheres are alike charged with it, inoffensive.

He shews, however, that if an unequal distribution is by any means brought about; if there is a coacervation in one part of space, a less proportion, vacuity, or want, in another; by the near approach of a body capable of conducting the coacervated part to the emptier space, it becomes perhaps the most formidable and irresistible agent in the universe. Animals are in an Instant struck breathless, bodies almost impervious by any force yet known, are perforated, and metals fused by it, in a moment.

From the similar effects of lightening and electricity our author has been led to make some probable conjectures on the cause of the former; and at the same time, to propose some rational experiments in order to secure ourselves, and those things on which its force is often directed, from its pernicious effects; a circumstance of no small importance to the publick, and therefore worthy of the utmost attention.

It has, indeed, been of late the fashion to ascribe every grand or unusual operation of nature, such as lightening and earthquakes, to electricity; not, as one would imagine, from the manner of reasoning on these occasions, that the authors of these schemes have, discovered any connection betwixt the cause and effect, or saw in what manner they were related; but, as it would seem, merely because they were unacquainted with any other agent, of which it could not positively be said the connection was impossible.

But of these, and many other interesting circumstances, the reader will be more satisfactorily informed in the following letters, to which he is therefore referred by

The Editor.

Letter I. To Peter Collinson, July 28, 1747. pp. 1–9. [ III , 156–64]

Letter II. To Peter Collinson, Sept. 1, 1747. pp. 10–18. [May 25, 1747. III , 126–35]

Letter III. To Peter Collinson. Farther Experiments and Observations in Electricity. 1748. pp. 19–35. [April 29, 1749. III , 352–65]

Letter IV. Containing Observations and Suppositions, towards forming a new Hypothesis, for explaining the several Phaenomena of Thunder Gusts. [n.d.] pp. 36–49. [To John Mitchell, April 29, 1749. III , 365–77]

Additional Papers. To Peter Collinson, July 29, 1750. p. 50. [ IV , 9]

Opinions and Conjectures, Concerning the Properties and Effects of the electrical Matter, arising from Experiments and Observations, made in Philadelphia, 1749. pp. 51–82. [Enclosure in next above, July 29, 1750. IV , 9–34]

Additional Experiment, proving that the Leyden Bottle has no more electric Fire in it when charged, than before; nor less when discharged: … [n.d.] pp. 83–5. [ c. Sept. 27, 1750. IV , 65–7]

Corrections and Additions to the Preceding Papers. [n.d.] pp. 85–6. [Incorporated in annotation of the papers in the present edition and not separately reprinted.]

9 .  The following account is based in part on Cohen, BF’s Experiments , pp. 77–100. As Cohen makes clear, the facts belie the account BF gave in his autobiography of the Royal Society’s reception of his work: “Oblig’d as we were to Mr. Colinson for his Present of the Tube, &c. I thought it right he should be inform’d of our Success in using it, and wrote him several Letters containing Accounts of our Experiments. He got them read in the Royal Society, where they were not at first thought worth so much Notice as to be printed in their Transactions. One Paper which I wrote for Mr. Kinnersley, on the Sameness of Lightning with Electricity [see above, III , 365] … had been read but was laught at by the Connoisseurs: The Papers however being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value to be stifled, and advis’d the Printing of them. … It was however some time before those Papers were much taken Notice of in England.” Par. Text edit., p. 382.

1 .  Cohen, BF’s Experiments , pp. 95–100.

2 .  William Watson, “Some further Inquiries into the Nature and Properties of Electricity,” Phil. Trans. , XLV (1748), 98–100.

3 .  William Stukeley, “On the Causes of Earthquakes,” ibid. , XLVI (1749–50), 643.

4 .  Gent. Mag. , XX (1750), 34–5.

5 .  See above, III , 472.

6 .  John Fothergill (1712–1780), son of a well-to-do Yorkshire Quaker farmer who made three religious visits to America; apprenticed to an apothecary at Bradford, 1728; M.D., Edinburgh, 1736; studied two years at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London; began to practice, 1740, first at White Hart Court, London, later at Harpur Street, Red Lion Square. He rose rapidly in his profession, “climbed on the backs of the poor into the pockets of the rich,” and soon had one of the largest and most lucrative practices in England. His Account of the Sore Throat, attended with Ulcers (scarlatina), 1748, which went into six editions, increased his reputation. He attended BF professionally in the fall of 1757.

Profoundly interested in botany, he encouraged John and William Bartram by purchasing plants and drawings, wrote the preface for the London edition of James Logan’s work on the generation of plants, 1747, and befriended a score of young American students of medicine in Britain. The anatomical drawings he gave to the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1762, and his advice to William Shippen, Jr., and John Morgan were invaluable in the founding of the medical department of the College of Philadelphia. An annual allowance of £40 he and some friends made to Joseph Priestley enabled Priestley to continue his experiments in chemistry, 1779.

For many years Fothergill exerted a powerful influence on the Society of Friends in England and America. He analyzed clearly the dilemma of the Quaker majority in the Pennsylvania Assembly, and advised the Quaker members to withdraw, 1756. He proposed schemes to improve the diet, health, and prosperity of the working classes; suggested that scholarships be created in English universities for American students; and dreamed of an international court of justice to settle national conflicts and prevent wars. He gave BF a silver tea pot, 1765, with the engraved motto, “Keep bright the chain.” Of him BF wrote to their mutual friend John C. Lettsom, “I can hardly conceive that a better man has ever existed.” DNB; John C. Lettsom, Some Account of the late John Fothergill, M.D. (London, 1783); R. Hingston Fox, Dr. John Fothergill and his Friends (London, 1919).

7 .  Gent. Mag. , XX (1750), 537.

8 .  See above, p. 115.

9 .  Fothergill to William Cuming, March 18, 1751, Richmond, Va., Academy of Medicine, quoted in Betsy C. Corner, “Dr. Fothergill’s Friendship with Benjamin Franklin,” APS Proc. , CII (1958), 413.

10 .  No printed translation into Latin has been found nor any manuscript translation to which Priestley could have been referring in this statement of 1767. There is, however, in the Österreichische National-Bibliothek, Vienna, a MS volume containing portions of a Latin translation of either the 1769 or the 1774 edition of Exper. and Obser. in what appears to be the handwriting of BF ’s friend Jan Ingenhousz, appointed court physician in Vienna, 1769. Only pp. 46–297 and 373–89 survive of what must have been a considerably longer manuscript. These pages correspond, with a few condensations and minor omissions, to pp. 38–247 and 304–14 of the 1769 English edition.

1 .  The History and Present State of Electricity (London, 1767), p. 159.

2 .  Since the publication of Volume III of this edition, the editors have learned of the existence in the Boston Public Library of a copy of Exper. and Obser. , 1751 edit., containing some corrections, mostly in BF ’s hand, and bearing his characteristic shelf mark on the inside front cover. See Edwin Wolf, 2d, “A Key to the Identification of Franklin’s Books,” PMHB , LXXX (1956), 407–9. Nearly all the emendations coincide with similar ones in the Yale presentation copy and BF ’s own copy in the Yale University Library (see above, III , 118 ), though there are fewer pen-and-ink notations in it than in the other two corrected copies. The Boston Public Library copy contains a table of contents in BF ’s hand and two corrections (apparently in a different hand) not found in either of the copies in the Yale Library; both conform to the text as given in the Bowdoin MS and printed in this edition: I . In the letter to Peter Collinson, May 25, 1747 (above, III , 126), where the date was originally printed incorrectly as “Sept. 1,” the month and day have been struck through and “May 25” inserted above. 2. In the letter to John Mitchell, April 29, 1749 , on thundergusts, sec. 44 (above, III , 374), the word “single” is inserted in the margin between “a” and “tree.” The editors are indebted to Mr. John Alden of the Boston Public Library for calling their attention to this volume.

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Benjamin Franklin: In His Own Words Scientist and Inventor

Benjamin Franklin

This portrait, which depicts Franklin as a learned scientist and inventor, was one of his favorites. Pictured on the left is the signal-bell apparatus Franklin devised to detect the presence of electrically-charged clouds. The bolt of lightning , seen through the open window, became an attribute closely identified with Franklin. At Franklin's death French philosopher/scientist Jacques Turgot wrote: “He seized the lightning from the sky and the scepter from the hand of tyrants.”

Edward Fisher (1730–ca. 1785), after Mason Chamberlin (d. 1787). Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, 1763. Mezzotint. Prints & Photographs Division , Library of Congress (32) LC-DIG-ppmsca-10083

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The Franklin Stove

Franklin wrote this description of the stove he had invented to promote sales of a model being manufactured by his friend Robert Grace. A series of partitioned iron plates permits a continuous supply of fresh warm air, separated from the smoke, to be distributed equally throughout the room. By controlling the airflow, less heat is lost, and much less wood is needed. Franklin's stove became so popular in England and Europe that this essay was frequently reprinted and translated into several foreign languages.

Benjamin Franklin. An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places . An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places . Page 2. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744. Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (35) //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0035p2s.jpg ">Page 2 . Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1744. Rare Book & Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (35)

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Franklin's Design for Bifocals

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of bifocal glasses, which he sketched here for his friend George Whatley, a London merchant and pamphleteer. Franklin told Whately he found them particularly useful at dinner in France, where he could see the food he was eating and watch the facial expressions of those seated at the table with him, which helped interpret the words being said. He wrote: “I understand French better by the help of my Spectacles.”

Benjamin Franklin to George Whatley (ca. 1709–1791), May 23, 1785. Letterpress manuscript. Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (36)

Read the transcript

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Experiments in Electricity

In 1751, Peter Collinson, President of the Royal Society, arranged for the publication of a series of letters from Benjamin Franklin, 1747 to 1750, describing his experiments on electricity. Franklin demonstrated his new theory of positive and negative charges, suggested the electrical nature of lightning, and proposed a tall, grounded rod as a protection against lightning. These experiments established Franklin's reputation as a scientist, and in 1753 he received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society for his contributions to the knowledge of lightning and electricity.

Benjamin Franklin. Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, By Benjamin Franklin . Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia in America, By Benjamin Franklin . Page 2. London, Printed for David Henry, 1769. Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (37A) //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0037ap2s.jpg ">Page 2 . London, Printed for David Henry, 1769. Rare Book & Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (37A)

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On Electricity

Benjamin Franklin's formulation of a general theory of electrical “action” won him an international reputation in pure science in his own day. Writing to Dutch physician and scientist Jan Ingenhousz, Franklin responds to a number of his friend's questions about electricity and the Leyden jar, an early form of electrical condenser. In this draft scientific report, it appears that Franklin wrote his answers first using dark ink, leaving room for the questions, which he wrote in red ink.

Benjamin Franklin. “Queries from Dr. Ingenhousz, with my Answers, B.F.”. //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0038p2s.jpg ">Page 2 . //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0038p3s.jpg ">Page 3 . Holograph report with annotations, [1777]. Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (38)

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Franklin Explains the Effects of Lightning

In this lengthy essay intended for his fellow scientist Jan Ingenhousz, Benjamin Franklin attempted to explain the effects of lightning on a church steeple in Cremona, Italy, by describing the effects of electricity on various metals. He based his hypothesis on other written accounts, and used this sketch of a tube of tin foil to aid in his explanation.

Benjamin Franklin to Jan Ingenhousz, 1777. Manuscript essay. Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (39)

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Mapping the Gulf Stream

Although Spanish explorers had described the Gulf Stream, Franklin, fascinated by the fact that the sea journey from North America to England was shorter than the return trip, asked his cousin, Nantucket sea captain Timothy Folger, to map its dimensions and course. Franklin published this map and his directions for avoiding it in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society in 1786. Systematic research, conducted by the U.S. Coast Survey, of the Gulf Stream did not occur until 1845.

Benjamin Franklin. “ Maritime Observations and A Chart of the Gulph Stream .” in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society . Philadelphia: 1796. Engraved map. Geography & Map Division , Library of Congress (40A) [gmd9/g9112/g9112g/ct000136]

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Franklin Battles the Common Cold

Despite his eminence in scientific circles, Benjamin Franklin remained concerned with the more practical applications of scientific study. This sheet entitled “Definition of a Cold” is one of a series bearing Franklin's notes for a paper he intended to write on the subject. Exercise, bathing, and moderation in food and drink consumption were just some of his steps to avoid the common cold.

Benjamin Franklin. “Hints concerning what is called Catching a Cold,” [1773]. //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0041p2s.jpg ">Page 2 . Manuscript document. Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (41)

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The Aurora Borealis

Benjamin Franklin's interest in the mystery of the “Northern Lights” is said to have begun on his voyages across the North Atlantic to England. He ascribed the shifting lights to a concentration of electrical charges in the polar regions intensified by the snow and other moisture. He reasoned that this overcharging caused a release of electrical illumination into the air. In this essay, which he wrote in English and French, Franklin analyzed the causes of the Aurora Borealis. It was read at the French Académie des Sciences on April 14, 1779.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). “Suppositions and Conjectures on the Aurora Borealis,” [ca. December 1778]. //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0042p2s.jpg ">Page 2 . //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0042p3s.jpg ">Page 3 . //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0042p4s.jpg ">Page 4 . Manuscript essay. Manuscript Division , Library of Congress (42)

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Franklin's Armonica

Before leaving London in July 1762, Franklin wrote to the Italian philosopher Giambatista Beccaria. Not having anything new to report on their shared interest in electricity, Franklin described the improvements he had made to the musical glasses invented by Richard Puckeridge. By fitting a series of graduated glass discs on a spindle laid horizontal in a case and revolving the spindle by a foot treadle, Franklin could create bell-like tones by touching his wet fingers to the revolving glasses. Franklin's armonica became popular in Europe, with Mozart and Beethoven composing music for it.

L'Armonica: Lettera del Signor Beniamino Franklin al Padre Giambatista Beccaria, Regio Professore di Fisica nell' Univ. di Torino . L'Armonica: Lettera del Signor Beniamino Franklin al Padre Giambatista Beccaria, Regio Professore di Fisica nell' Univ. di Torino . Page 2. [Milano?:1776?]. Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (43) //www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/images/bf0043p2s.jpg ">Page 2 . [Milano?:1776?]. Rare Book & Special Collections Division , Library of Congress (43)

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Benjamin Franklin and Electricity

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who married twice—first to Anne Child and then to Abiah Folger. Benjamin was Abiah’s ninth child and Josiah’s fifteenth child. Young Benjamin showed an early aptitude for learning, and his father placed him in the Boston Grammar School at age eight. However, his formal schooling ended after just two years when his father pulled him out of school to work in the family business. He also continued to learn on his own, reading voraciously and teaching himself subjects such as math and science.

The Leyden Jar Experiment

Electricity, in particular, fascinated Franklin. In 1746, he heard about a German cleric and physicist named Ewald Georg von Kleist who had created a device called the Leyden jar—a glass jar that could store an electrical charge. Scientists in Europe began experimenting on these jars, and even Franklin was intrigued. He experimented with connecting Leyden jars in series, which he called an “electrical battery.”

Franklin’s procedure included 11 panes of glass with thin lead plates glued on each side. He discovered that linking multiple jars together could increase the amount of charge that could be stored. It also demonstrated how “positive” charges resided on one side and “negative” charges on the other side of the jar. In 1748, Franklin wrote a letter to Peter Collinson, a London merchant, and fellow scientist, describing his experiment. While he was not the first to do this experiment, he may have been the first to use the term “battery” for it.

The Kite Experiment

Franklin’s discoveries regarding electricity were not just limited to the Leyden jar. Before electricity was used to power up electronic devices, magicians used it for tricks—creating sparks and shocks. At that time, electricity was not something “useful” yet, just something to entertain people with. The more he saw those tricks, the more he noticed that electricity and lightning had similarities.

Electricity is the flow of electrons through a conductor, while lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere caused by imbalances within the clouds or between the clouds and the ground. However, during Franklin’s time, scientists had not discovered electrons yet, so they didn’t know that was what made electricity flow. They also did not know much about lightning except that it was a naturally occurring phenomenon. Franklin was not content to simply sit back and watch others experiment with electricity; he wanted to learn about it himself. He hypothesized that lightning was a form of electricity and set out to prove it.

On June 10, 1752, at the age of 46, he decided to do an experiment during a thunderstorm. He took a kite and attached two strings to it: one made of silk, and the other made of hemp. He tied a metal key to the end of the hemp string. He also secured a wire on the top of the kite to act as a lightning rod. The materials he used were purposeful. He knew that electricity could flow through some materials but not others. He also knew that wet materials conducted electricity better than dry ones.

He flew the kite outside during the storm, and when lightning struck, the kite caught the electric charge and sent it down the wet hemp string where the key was tied to. He held the silk string, and when he noticed that the loose threads of the hemp string were standing up on the end, he moved his finger near the key and felt a shock. The key conducted the electricity from the string, proving his hypothesis that lightning was a form of electricity.

It also showed that electrical charges could be conducted through certain materials, like wet hemp, and not others, like dry silk. This was one of the most famous experiments in history and helped people to understand how electricity works. Franklin’s experiment was not only successful, but it was also very dangerous. He could have easily been killed by the electric shock he received. However, his curiosity and willingness to take risks led him to make an important discovery that laid the groundwork for future inventors to create devices that could harness and use electricity.

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Benjamin Franklin's Experiments ; a new edition of Franklin's Experiments and observations on electricity. Edited, with a critical and historical introd., by I. Bernard Cohen

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Ask History: Benjamin Franklin's Electricity Experiments

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Mr. History explores how Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment worked.

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• Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment

The famous story about Benjamin Franklin flying a kite on a stormy day and accidentally discovering electricity is widespread, yet not necessarily accurate. His discoveries did lead to many advancements regarding electricity, the most famous invention being the lightning rod, used even today to prevent lightning-caused fires. For a long time, Franklin hypothesized that electricity and lightning are the same things. Unfortunately, he had no way of proving it, as his surrounding area was too flat and the Philadelphia church - the only building high enough for his ideas, was still undergoing construction. It all changed once he realized that there is another way to get closer to clouds - by using a kite. In this article, we'll dive into the history and logistics of Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment.

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Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment Period and Background

In 1750, the electrical nature of lightning became a public debate in France, with many scientists of the day such as Denis Barbaret, Jacques de Romas and Jean-Antoine Nollet all investigating the nature of electrical charge around this time. Across the Atlantic, Benjamin Franklin was also investigating electricity and by the end of 1749 had found many similarities between lightning and electricity.

In 1752, Franklin presented an experiment in which one end of a conducting twine was connected to a Leyden jar (a type of primitive capacitor) and the other end to a kite, to demonstrate that lightning was an electrical phenomenon. Franklin himself said that he first conducted the experiment in June 1752, reportedly on the roof of the Christian Church in Philadelphia. Still, there are doubts about where and how the experiment was actually carried out, as it was not independently observed.

A similar experiment was carried out by Thomas-François Dalibard in Marly-la-Ville in northern France in May 1752. Trying to imitate the experiment, Georg Wilhelm Richmann died in Saint Petersburg in August 1753, thought to have been struck by a lightning bolt.

Jacques de Romas developed a kite experiment very similar to Franklin's in 1753, which also showed that lightning was closely related to electricity. While Franklin's experiment had allegedly already been demonstrated by this time, information traveled much more slowly in the 18th century, and de Romas was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1764 to honor his discoveries made independently of Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment Hypothesis

As we have already established - Franklin did not discover electricity. Although it was a well-established scientific concept with some practical applications, electricity wasn't fully understood until long after Franklin's death in 1790. Based on the available knowledge of electricity at the time, Franklin noticed many similarities between electricity and lightning. Mainly, he observed that both phenomena:

created light;

were followed by loud crashes;

had a very distinct smell; and

were attracted to metals.

So, the main aim of this experiment was to prove the connection between the two concepts, as Franklin hypothesized that lightning is a form of electricity.

Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment Story

The main idea of Franklin's experiment was fairly simple - collect the electrical charge created in the Earth's atmosphere during a storm, just before a bolt of lightning strikes. Contrary to popular belief, Franklin wasn't hit by a lightning bolt, as that would probably be deadly.

The actual experiment was supposedly conducted on a rainy day in a field. The kite was launched into the stormy sky, while both Franklin and his son were waiting in a safe, dry place. Soon after, Franklin noticed hanging threads on the string standing upright and recognized similarities between this behavior and other experimental observations made when using a conductor.

A similar effect is observed when hair experiences a transfer of electrons after removing a knit hat or rubbing against a balloon, for example. The hair will rise, as some electrons have now left the hair with the hat, meaning that all the hair is now positively charged, and the individual hair strands will repel one another. This is known as static electricity .

Remember, similar charges repel each other, while opposite charges attract one another!

The same thing happens in the string, as the current is directed through it and similar charges repel each other, resulting in the "hairs" on the rope to raise. This observation alone indicated that Franklin's hypothesis was correct; however, he went a step further and touched a metal key tied to the string. As a result, he experienced a light electric shock and observed a spark. He then went on to "collect" the electric charge using a Leyden jar (in modern terms, it was being charged), to perform further studies.

Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment Diagram

The experimental setup used by Franklin was quite straightforward. A detailed diagram of the setup used is visible below.

Each component of this kite, has a purpose, especially when it comes to the materials chosen. The base of the kite is made of two perpendicular sticks, with a silk handkerchief stretched over it. Silk was chosen deliberately, as in contrary to paper, it is sturdy enough to withstand the harsh weather conditions. A hemp rope is attached to the base of the kite, extending all the way to the ground. When soaked by the rain, this rope becomes a good conductor of electricity. At the bottom of the rope, a metal key is attached using a string made of silk. As described earlier, Franklin remained inside a dry space to avoid becoming conductive himself!

Benjamin Franklin and Electricity

There was a practical reason as to why Franklin was so fascinated by lightning. As a politically active member of society, he was concerned about the sheer amount of lightning-caused fires in his homeland. Once Franklin had successfully performed the Kite Experiment, his next idea was to achieve a similar effect of collecting electricity from storm clouds using a metal rod.

Lightning rods

As a result, lightning rods were invented and became a regular addition to buildings to steer lightning strikes directly into the ground. A diagram displaying a house equipped by a lighting rod is visible below.

This system is a great conductor, allowing the current to be diverted into the ground without causing any significant heat damage. Essentially, the metal rod becomes the highest point for the lightning to strike. The cable connected to the rod needs to have a very low resistance to prevent it from heating up too much when conducting the energy of a lightning strike.

Franklin bell

Franklin also developed something known as the Franklin bell. It was an extension to his lightning rods combined with Andrew Gordon's original invention of "electric chimes".

Franklin bells are a device used to predict any upcoming thunderstorms by utilizing the repulsion and attraction of charges.

It was the first-ever instrument to convert between electrical and mechanical energy. A diagram of the first Franklin bells mentioned in literature is visible below.

The basic principle of this device is as follows. One of the bells is connected to the lightning rod, another one - to a grounded rod. During a storm, the metal bell attached to the lightning rod accumulates charge that eventually attracts the bell clapper. Once the clapper and the bell come into contact, their charges become identical, causing them to repel. The bell connected to the ground now has an opposite charge to the bell clapper, causing them to attract and repeat the same process as before. Subsequently, the system will create noise as long as the thunderstorm is going on.

In addition to practical inventions, Benjamin Franklin has also contributed greatly to introducing and describing crucial definitions and concepts in the study of electricity. For instance, terminology such as conductors, batteries, and charge are all of his imagination. Franklin believed that all objects contain "a single fluid", and depending on whether there is a surplus or shortage of said fluid, the object is positively or negatively charged, respectively. While this theory may not have been entirely correct, the terminology used by Franklin himself is still in widespread use today.

Franklin's Kite Experiments - Key takeaways

• Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that electricity and lightning are the same things.
• Franklin flew a kite with a metal key attached to the bottom of a conductive rope, during a thunderstorm, to test his hypothesis.
• The reason why Franklin attached the metal key was to test whether it will draw an electrical charge from the sharp rod attached to the top of the kite.
• Franklin's hypothesis turned out to be correct, as he observed an electric spark after touching the key.
• Based on the results of this experiment, Franklin invented lightning rods and Franklin bells.
• Nowadays, lightning rods are a regular addition to buildings to steer lightning strikes directly into the ground.

Flashcards in Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment 15

Benjamin Franklin's experiment helped to understand the connection between lightning and electricity - True or false?

True - this experiment confirmed the hypothesis that lightning was an electrical phenomenon.

In 1752, Franklin presented an experiment in which one end of a conducting wire was connected to a Leyden jar (primitive capacitor) and the other end to a lightning bolt - True or false?

True - this was Franklin's famous "kite experiment".

Why are there doubts as to whether Franklin carried out the experiment?

Because conducting the experiment is highly dangerous, and the only witness to the experiment was apparently his own son.

What was the kite made of that Benjamin Franklin used in the kite experiment?

The kite is made with  a large silk handkerchief, a hemp string, a metal key, and a silk string . 

What was attached to the end of the string on the kite?

A metal key.  

What part of the kite drew electricity to it?

A metal rod on the kite

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Frequently Asked Questions about Benjamin Franklin's Kite Experiment

What did Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment prove?

Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment proved that lightning and electricity are the same thing. 

What did Benjamin Franklin do with a kite?

Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm to show the relation between lightning and electricity. 

Did Benjamin Franklin really fly a kite with a key?

Yes, the story goes that Benjamin Franklin did fly a kite with a key attached. Still, there are doubts about where and how the experiment was actually carried out, as it was not independently observed. 

Why did Benjamin Franklin put a key on a kite?

Benjamin Franklin put a key on a kite to test whether it will draw an electrical charge. 

What did Benjamin Franklin discover?

Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightning and electricity are the same thing, by conducting the famous Kite Experiment. 

Test your knowledge with multiple choice flashcards

Which of the following inventions did Benjamin Franklin did NOT contribute to? 

What are the similarities Franklin noticed between lightning and electricity?

Why was a hemp rope used during the experiment?

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