June 10, 1752: Franklin's Kite

On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm to prove that lightning was an electrical force found in nature. As one of the Founding Fathers of the United States one would think that he would be smarter than to test this theory out on himself, but nonetheless he carried it out. Franklin did not invent electricity with this experiment; he just discovered that lighting was a form of electricity and not some mysterious force sent as a punishment from God (as most people back then thought).

To reach high enough into the storm clouds Franklin used a kite. In order to produce a current he attacked a small piece of metal to the top of his kite and a metal key to the base of the string. He then tied the kite string to an insulating piece of ribbon to the knuckles of his hand. When the lightening struck the kite it traveled down the kite string to the key. When Franklin touched the key with his knuckle there was a spark of electricity between the two of them. His son William was the only witness to the experiment. The first record of the experiment was fifteen years later by another man, which has caused some theories to emerge saying that he never actually performed it (I just think they’re jealous).

Franklin’s fascination with electricity began in the mid-1740s, resulting in almost a decade spent conducting electrical experiments (and countless electrical shocks). He developed the single-fluid theory of electricity and introduced many of the terms used to descried electricity today: battery, conductor, condenser, charge, discharge, positive, negative, electrician, and electric shock.

Understanding the power and danger of lightning, he went on to invent the lighting rod. This metal conductor is attacked to a high point on usually a building or ship and leads to the ground, protecting the object from destruction by lightning.

As a prominent scientist, inventor, and politician it is no surprise that Franklin was one of the most well known and widely recognized people of his time, and still so today. Creating such items as the bifocals, day light savings time, fire departments, and political cartoons he is still most widely known for his crazy experiment of flying a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm.