simple old fashioned stunt airplane drawing

Franklin’s experiment demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity. Electrical forces had been recognized for more than a thousand years, and scientists had worked extensively with static electricity. 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.”ĭespite a common misconception, Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity during this experiment-or at all, for that matter. “To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. 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. His son William assisted him.įranklin 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.

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. He had his materials at the ready: a simple kite made with a large silk handkerchief, a hemp string, and a silk string. He wanted to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning, and to do so, he needed a thunderstorm. He decided it was the perfect time to go fly a kite.įranklin had been waiting for an opportunity like this. As rain began to fall and lightning threatened, most of the city’s citizens surely hurried inside. On a June afternoon in 1752, the sky began to darken over the city of Philadelphia. We all know the story of Franklin’s famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment.

Simple old fashioned stunt airplane drawing