Today in HistoryâJune 10: Benjamin Franklin Flies a Kiteâand Makes History
Most people donât see a thunderstorm and decide to fly a kite. But Benjamin Franklin was not most people.
He was an accomplished writer, publisher, printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and civil servant. Bifocals? He invented them. âEarly to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wiseâ? He said it. The Declaration of Independence? He helped write it. The U.S. Constitution? He signed it.
And, according to tradition, it was on this day in 1752 that he performed one of the most famous scientific demonstrations in history.
Franklin believed that lightning was electric. He just needed a thunderstorm to prove it. And that afternoon, as bad weather rolled through Philadelphia, Franklin saw his chance.
His plan was simpleâand dangerous: fly a kite into the storm.
But this was not just any kite. Franklin had made it from a silk handkerchief and sticks. At the top was a pointed metal wire, similar to a lightning rod. At the other end of the kite hung a hemp string that could readily conduct electricity after becoming wet. Tied to it was a dry silk string that would act as an insulator in Franklinâs handâhe hoped. A metal key dangling from the hemp completed the kite.
The experiment was not without risk. Franklin wanted to detect ambient electricity, not attract a lightning strike, which likely would have killed him. So he stood in a doorway, sheltering himself and the silk string from the rain.
An avid swimmer, Franklin once swam 3.5 miles in Londonâs River Thames, performing tricks along the way for cheering bystanders.
The kite was aloft. The storm was there. And thenâŠnothing.
Franklin was about to give up when he saw something: Hemp threads were standing on end. And then he felt a spark when his finger and then knuckle came close to the key. It was electricity. He used a special jar equipped with a wire to capture and store the âelectric fire.â
Franklin had done it. And although he wasnât the first to prove lightning was electricâa month earlier a Frenchman had made a similar discovery, using instructions Franklin had sent to a colleagueâthe kite experiment was a defining moment in the study of electricity.
Franklin accomplished something few people can claim: He caught lightning in a bottle.
- 2: Years he received a formal education
- ~4,000: Books owned by Franklin
- 20,000: People who attended his funeral in 1790
- 1692: Bridget Bishop is the first person hanged during the Salem witch trials
- 1772: American colonists burn the Gaspee, a British ship
- 2007: The last episode of HBOâs The Sopranos airs
