“Electricity is really just organized lightning”
–George Carlin
Benjamin Franklin was not the one who discovered electricity as his kite was struck by lightning in 1752. In fact, the existence of electricity was a well-known fact during this time period. All Franklin did was prove that lightning had electric current running through it. The incident occurred where he was flying a silk kite with a metal key during a thunderstorm. He noticed that the fiber on the line was standing up as though there was some charge passing through it. He touched the key and felt the current from the accumulated electricity in the air, although not directly through lightening. This was enough to prove his theory that lightening was electricity. Had his kite been struck by lightning, he would have been killed as was Professor Georg Wilhelm Richmann of St. Petersburg in Russia when he attempted the same experiment a few months later.
–George Carlin
Benjamin Franklin was not the one who discovered electricity as his kite was struck by lightning in 1752. In fact, the existence of electricity was a well-known fact during this time period. All Franklin did was prove that lightning had electric current running through it. The incident occurred where he was flying a silk kite with a metal key during a thunderstorm. He noticed that the fiber on the line was standing up as though there was some charge passing through it. He touched the key and felt the current from the accumulated electricity in the air, although not directly through lightening. This was enough to prove his theory that lightening was electricity. Had his kite been struck by lightning, he would have been killed as was Professor Georg Wilhelm Richmann of St. Petersburg in Russia when he attempted the same experiment a few months later.
