Did Ben Franklin REALLY fly a kite in a thunderstorm?

Question

I've seen the dramatic old pictures, but I've since read somewhere that if you actually read Franklin's account, it becomes doubtful if it's more than speculation. I know that it is extremely dangerous, and trying it produced several fried scientists. So did Ben actually do it?

Answer 1

These two links seem to back up the theory that Franklin never flew the kite however it also remain unconclusive.

Answer 2

Dr Benjamin Franklin FRS [Fellow of the Royal Society], was a leading scientist of his day in London and a frequent visitor to the Royal Society, where no doubt he rubbed shoulders with other leading scientists of the day.

Dr Franklin was not the only person investigating the properties of electricity.

Dr Franklin invented the lightning rod and lots of other useful things besides; bifocal reading glasses etc.

It is highly unlikely that a man of science such as Dr Franklin would be so foolhardy as to fly a kite in a lighting storm, especially one with a copper wire - which I read about somewhere many thousands of years ago.

Dr Benjamin Franklin's only surviving house is here in London and you can visit it on line. He lived in London for about sixteen years, studying science and campaigning for a little more freedom in His Majesties American Colonies.

Answer 3

Well, he says he did, although he admits he was only repeating someone else's experiment.

I quote from his autobiography,

"What gave my book the more sudden and general celebrity was the success of one of its proposed experiments, made by Messrs. Dalibard and De Lor at Marly, for drawing lightning from the clouds. This engaged the public attention everywhere. M. de Lor, who had an apparatus for experimental philosophy, and lectured in that branch of science, undertook to repeat what he called the Philadelphia Experiments; and, after they were performed before the king and court, all the curious of Paris flocked to see them. I will not swell this narrative with an account of that capital experiment, nor of the infinite pleasure I received in the success of a similar one I made soon after with a kite at Philadelphia, as both are to be found in the histories of electricity."

So I would say yes he did!

Answer 4

He may very well have flew a kite in a thunderstorm, however there is an episode of mythbusters in which they proved that the kite would not have conducted electricity, or at the very least not enough to kill him. You can find the episode online if you would like to know further!

Answer 5

Franklin actually did it.

The string between himself and the key was nonconductive and kept dry. The string between kite and key was conductive.

He "captured" some electrical energy in a crude home made capacitor... a bell jar covered in metal foil with a different metal rod inside (not touching the foil)

Real historical fact.

Answer 6

It is hard to say, it is said Ben Franklin invented electricity, others say Tomas Edison invented electricity, and others say Nicola Tesla invented electricity.
I think each had their part in inventing electricity.
Like Franklin with lightning and Edison DC current, and Tesla AC current.

Answer 7

Yes, he did.

If you are in the UK try the website of The Kite Society of Great Britain for more information.

Answer 8

no. but he is credited with the discovery. many say that the contraption he used did not involve a kite. by the way, one of the great upshots of his experimentation was a rod to redirect lightening away from damaging buildings to the ground. these are installed on nearly every building across the globe today.

Answer 9

Actually he was there for this experiment. His son William was actually flying the kite.

Answer 10

when he discovered electricity.