![]() ![]() Georg Wilhelm Reichmann attempted to reproduce the experiment, according to Franklin's instructions, standing inside a room. But one unfortunate physicist did not fare so well. Delor repeated the experiment in Paris, followed in July by an Englishman, John Canton. Based on his observations, he proposed an experiment with an elevated rod or wire to "draw down the electric fire" from a cloud, with the experimenter standing in the protection of an enclosure similar to a soldier's sentry box.īefore Franklin could put his proposal into practice, Frenchman Thomas Francois D'Alibard used a 50-foot long vertical rod to draw down the "electric fluid" of the lightning in Paris on May 10, 1752. He concluded that lightning was merely a massive electric spark, similar to those produced from charged Leyden jars. But contrary to popular belief, Franklin wasn't the first to successfully conduct this pivotal experiment.Ī self-educated, amateur scientist, Franklin was fascinated by the so-called "electric fluid," and independently investigated charged objects and how sparks jumped between them using an electricity tube given to him by his friend Peter Collinson. AIP Niels Bohr LibraryĪmerican school children of all ages are familiar with the story of Benjamin Franklin and his famous experiment to determine if lightning was in fact an electrical current: attaching a metal key to a kite during a thunderstorm to see if the lightning would pass through the metal. By the way, Franklin, his wife Deborah, and other family members are buried in Christ Church Burial Ground, a few blocks from the church.May 10, 1752: First Experiment to Draw Electricity from Lightningįranklin's sentry box experiment. It remains a remarkable Philadelphia l andmark. It pierced the sky at 196 feet high and became the tallest structure in No rth America for several decades. The steeple of Christ Church was built by Robert Smith and was fully finished in 1755 when new bells from England were installed. But since its construction w as very much lagging, Franklin grew impatient and decided that a kite would be able to get close to storm clouds just as well. Christ Church steeple was under construction at the time, financed first by subscription and then by two lotteries m anaged by leading Philadelphians, including Benjamin Franklin himself. He felt that the wooden bell tower with spire would certainly be high e nough from which to draw an e lectric charge from the clouds of a thunderstorm. In these letters, Franklin used the termsįranklin initially wanted to perform his experiment atop the steeple of Christ Church at 2nd and Market Streets in Philadelphia. Franklin and Collinson began corresponding about their respective experimentation in mid-1747, about the time that Franklin began working with electricity. Franklin sent a number of letters describing his various electrical experiments to his friend and fellow electrician Peter Collinson, a Quaker merchant and botanist in London. This experiment would show whether the earth and sky functioned like a Leyden jar in the presence of an atmospheric electric charge. Franklin also suggested that the way to prove this theory was to simply draw lightning, or m erely an electrical charge, from the clouds. ![]() Unlikely as it seems today, this was a radical notion at the time, for since the dawn of humanity, lightning was thought to be supernatural magic sent down by the gods, or a direct blow from God Almighty intended to smite sinners. Around 1749, Franklin hypothesized that lightning is an electrical phenomenon, and that this phenomenon might be transferable to another object and cause an effect similar to that of static electricity. ![]()
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