Exactly 261 Years Ago, Ben Franklin Flew a Kite in a Lightning Storm Exactly 261 Years Ago, Ben Franklin Flew a Kite in a Lightning Storm Go to permalink Benjamin Franklin first shocked himself in 1746, while conducting experiments on electricity with found objects from around his house. Six years later and exactly 261 years ago today, the founding father flew a kite attached to a key and a silk ribbon in a thunderstorm and effectively trapped lightning in a jar. The experiment is now seen as a watershed moment in mankind's question to channel a force of nature once thought to be the wrath of God himself. It's also understood that Ben Franklin was pretty effing lucky he didn't fry his bones on that fateful early June afternoon in 1752. Based on what he'd contribute to the nation in the years after that, America is pretty lucky, too. Advertisement By the time Franklin started experimenting with electricity, he'd already found fame and fortune as the author of Poor Richard's Almanack and was starting to get into science. Electricity wasn't a very well understood phenomenon at that point, though, so Franklin's research proved to be fairly foundational.

The early experiments, experts believe, were inspired by other scientists' work and the shortcomings therein. That early brush with the dangers of electricity left an impression on Franklin. He described the sensation as "a universal blow throughout my whole body from head to foot, which seemed within as well as without; after which the first thing I took notice of was a violent quick shaking of my body." However, it didn't scare him away. In the handful of years before his famous kite experiment, Franklin contributed everything from designing the first battery designs to establishing some common nomenclature in the study of electricity. It's thanks to Franklin, for instance, that we refer to positive and negative charges. Before him, they were known as "vitreous" and "resinous" charges. (Those names don't quite have the same punch do they?) Advertisement At a certain point, Franklin's fascination about electrity shifted beyond mere curiosity to practically political spheres like public safety. He wanted to know if there might be a way to keep churches and other tall buildings from burning down during lightning storms and hypothesized that lighting was just one big discharge of static electricity.

If this was the case, he thought, one ought to be able to tease lightning out of the clouds with a charged object placed high in the air. Like a metal rod on top of a steeple with a cable stretching down to the ground. Or a kite with a key attached to it. So Franklin and his 21-year-old son William suited up on June 10, 1852—some historians avoid naming an exact date for the experiment since the event was so vaguely documented—and ventured into the storm. It should be known that Franklin was not the first to conduct this type of experiment. Just a month before Franklin's experiment in Philadelphia, French scientist Thomas-François Dalibard conducted an electric kite experiment of his own and possibly invented a lightning rod before Franklin, though he's not given credit for doing so. The reason for that might be explained purely by the American do-it-all's showmanship. Franklin had a built-in audience for his scientific reports and was generally gifted at promoting his own work. Before he got to take credit for the kite experiment, though, Franklin had to survive it.

In order to reduce the risk of electrocution, he opted for a kite on a dry silk string over a metal rod attached to a building as the preferred method for attracting lightning. An iron key was attached to the silk string as well as a metal wire that was dropped into an electrically charged Leyden jar. Once the kite was flying high, Franklin held on to a dry silk ribbon attached to the string and took shelter in a nearby barn so that he wouldn't get wet. Sure enough, the storm picked up, the air became charge, and Franklin successfully conducted electricity through his kite rig. Because he was holding a silk ribbon and not the actual string, Franklin avoided getting shocked, though he said that he would catch a shock if he put his finger close to the key. Sponsored After the successful experiment, Franklin knew that his lightning rod idea would work. Again, he wasn't the only one experimenting with the idea, though his belief that the rods should be sharp on the end in oder to attract lightning was significant. The first of these so-called Franklin lightning rods started popping up across Philadelphia in the 1850s and one eventually graced the top of the State House in Maryland.

Franklin wrote of the devices' importance: May not the knowledge of this power of points be of use to mankind, in preserving houses, churches, ships, etc., from the stroke of lightning, by directing us to fix, on the highest parts of those edifices, upright rods of iron made sharp as a needle… Would not these pointed rods probably draw the electrical fire silently out of a cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible mischief! You've got to love that last bit. Because Franklin was a bit of a troublemaker. The kite experiment and lightning rod campaign proved to foreshadow Franklin's involvement in the American colonies' independence movement. King George III, you see, was a fan of blunt lightning rods, not the pointed ones that Franklin recommended. "The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the King," says the Franklin Institute. "The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them." Advertisement Advertisement It turns out the English were kind of right.

In the decades that followed Franklin's kite experiment, the Americans would become known not just for their audacity in the face of authority but also for their seemingly limitless capacity to innovate and improve new technologies. First came electricity, then steam engines, then the telephone, the airplane, the TV, the Internet, the personal computer, Steve Jobs. Our country owes a lot to that funny-haired man on the hundred-dollar bill who spent a dangerous day flying a kite over a quarter of a millenium ago. Which reminds me: Not enough people fly kites these days or conduct impromptu scientific experiments. There should be an app for that. Ben Franklin's Kite Experiment Ben's Big Idea "Aw, Go Fly a Kite!" Benjamin Franklin's wildly dangerous kite experiment has grown into an American legend. Almost everyone has heard of Franklin flying a kite with a key in an electrical storm, but few of us actually understand how the experiment works. Ben hypothesized that lightning is an electrical phenomenon, and that the electrical effect of lightning might be transferable to another object and cause an effect that could be recognized as electricity. He set out to prove it in an experiment.

In 1752, on a dark June afternoon in Philadelphia, the 46 year-old Ben Franklin decided to fly a kite. With the help of his son, William, they attached his kite to a silk string, tying an iron key at the other end. Next, they tied a thin metal wire from the key and inserted the wire into a Leyden jar , a container for storing an electrical charge. Finally, as the sky darkened and a thunderstorm approached, they attached a silk ribbon to the key. Holding onto the kite by the silk ribbon, Ben flew the kite and once it was aloft, he retreated into a barn so that he would not get wet. The thunder storm cloud passed over Franklin's kite, whereupon the negative charges in the cloud passed onto his kite, down the wet silk string, to the key, and into the jar. Ben however, was unaffected by the negative charges because he was holding the dry silk ribbon, insulating him from the charges on the key. When he moved his free hand near the iron key, he received a shock. Why? Because the negative charges in the key were so strongly attracted to the positive charges in his body, a spark jumped from the key to his hand.

Franklin's experiment successfully showed that lightning was static electricity. You can experience this same reaction when you shuffle your feet on a carpet and reach for a metal doorknob. Franklin was actually lucky to have survived, for after this famous incident, several other would-be-scientists who performed this same kite experiment were electrocuted. Realizing that this form of electricity could be charged over a conductor and into the ground, he invented the lightning rod and conductor, providing the lightning an alternative path to the earth. Later in his life, lightning struck his own house, but his lightning rod saved it from burning. Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm - Jun 10, 1752 - HISTORY.com This Day in History: 06/10/1752 - Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm In This Day in History video clip: On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning.

Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was still unknown on the topic, and spent almost a decade conducting electrical experiments. He coined a number of terms used today, including battery, conductor, and electrician. He also invented the lightning rod, used to protect buildings and ships. Lead Story Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm Share this: Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm Author Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm URL Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning, enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was still unknown on the topic, and spent almost a decade conducting electrical experiments. He coined a number of terms used today, including battery, conductor and electrician. He also invented the lightning rod, used to protect buildings and ships. Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, to a candle and soap maker named Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children, and his wife Abiah Folger.

Franklin’s formal education ended at age 10 and he went to work as an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. In 1723, following a dispute with his brother, Franklin left Boston and ended up in Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. Following a brief stint as a printer in London, Franklin returned to Philadelphia and became a successful businessman, whose publishing ventures included the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’s Almanack, a collection of homespun proverbs advocating hard work and honesty in order to get ahead. The almanac, which Franklin first published in 1733 under the pen name Richard Saunders, included such wisdom as: “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Whether or not Franklin followed this advice in his own life, he came to represent the classic American overachiever. In addition to his accomplishments in business and science, he is noted for his numerous civic contributions. Among other things, he developed a library, insurance company, city hospital and academy in Philadelphia that would later become the University of Pennsylvania. Most significantly, Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States and had a career as a statesman that spanned four decades.

He served as a legislator in Pennsylvania as well as a diplomat in England and France. He is the only politician to have signed all four documents fundamental to the creation of the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), which established peace with Great Britain, and the U.S. Constitution (1787). Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He remains one of the leading figures in U.S. history. Related Videos Benjamin Franklin: The Kite Experiment and the Invention of the Lightning Rod Benjamin Franklin - Master of Electricity The Kite Experiment and the Invention of the Lightning Rod Hands On Activity: Build and Demonstrate a Leyden Jar and Lightning Bells Zuse Konrad Who was Benjamin Franklin? Benjamin Franklin was one of the leaders of the American Revolution and Founding Fathers of the United States, helped draft the Declaration of Independence and was one of its signers.

Franklin was a man of many talents and among others he was a printer, journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, and inventor. What Did Benjamin Franklin Invent? Benjamin Franklin made important contributions in many fields. His scientific achievements in science and invention include the Franklin stove, bifocals, medical catheter, swim fins, library chair, the odometer, glass armonica and more (a few of this devices he only improved or came up with his own version). In electricity he invented the lightning rod, discovered the principle of conservation of charge and identified positive and negative electrical charges. But he�s best remembered for the Franklin�s kite experiment (see below), and no wonder that sometimes he�s referred to as �Master of Electricity�. In literature and journalism he�s best known for writing, printing and publishing the famous Poor Richard's Almanac and The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin was also a diplomat and represented the United States in France during the American Revolution, and secured the French support that helped to make independence of the United States possible. He was also a civil servant and in 1775 Franklin became the first U.S. Postmaster General.

Franklin's Kite Experiment Ben Franklin himself never wrote the story of the most dramatic of his experiments. All that is known about what he did on that famous day, of no known for sure date, comes from two resources: Joseph Priestley's account, published fifteen years afterwards in 1767 appears to be based on Franklin�s account himself through close and intense correspondence between them. (The History and Present State of Electricity, with original experiments, by Joseph Priestley, 1775 Vol. I pp 216-217) A letter in which Franklin described his kite experiment that was written in Philadelphia on October 1752 and was addressed to Peter Collinson, who had earlier provided Franklin with some simple apparatus for performing electrical experiments. A copy of the original letter is at present in the archives of the Royal Society in London. (Letter XI) According to these sources, Franklin, on June 1752, built a kite with a sharp pointed wire attached to the kite to attract easier electrical charges (working like a lightning rod). He attached a key to the end of the kite string, near his holding hand, but held the kite with a silk ribbon also tied to the key for insulation security reasons.

A thin metal wire, connected also to the key, was inserted into a Leyden jar, a container for storing electrical charges. Then, on a thunderstorm he let the kite fly. The kite was struck by lightning and cloud sparks (electrical charges / static electricity) flew through the wet kite and string to the key and inside the Leyden jar. After he noticed that loose fibers of the string were bristling outward because the string was charged with static electricity, he intentionally reached out his knuckle to touch the key and he felt an electrical shock. This experiment - the electrical shock to Franklin�s hand, the charged Leyden jar and the string's bristling fibers - proves beyond any doubt that lightning is an electric phenomenon. Many cast doubt at the possibility that Franklin really performed this experiment. For example, Tommy Tucker, a science writer, offers two reasons in particular for rejecting the kite story. One is that in describing the experiment in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin does not say that he did it. The other is that the experiment as Franklin described it would be unlikely to succeed because of the design of the kite and the difficulty of flying it under the conditions outlined by Franklin. (Tucker, Tom.

Bolt of fate; Benjamin Franklin and his electric kite hoax. Public Affairs, 2003.) On The other hand, others believe that Franklin indeed performed this experiment. Bernard Cohen, states that Franklin was in close contact with Priestley and therefore it is safe to assume that Priestley�s detailed report is based on Franklin himself. (Benjamin Franklin's Science I. Bernard Cohen, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 1990) Schiffer, professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, accepts the tradition of the kite experiment, although he says it is "a long and inconclusive story." Schiffer, Draw the Lightning Down, (2003, University of California Press) Others think that basically Franklin performed this experiment but with some required changes and not the way it is often described, namely, he did tie a key to the kite string, fly it in a thunderstorm, and wait for it to be struck by lightning - had he done so, most chances are that he wouldn�t survive it without to be killed.

Evidence, from his writings, shows that he was aware of the dangers of electricity and to other possible safe alternatives to perform this dangerous experiment - among them, to draw sparks directly into the Leyden jar, from the key, without the need to touch it and as shown by his invention of the lightning rod using of the concept of electrical ground. It doesn�t really matter if Benjamin Franklin indeed performed the kite experiment in reality. What really matters is the question if this experiment (or maybe only a theoretical proposal) is founded on sound scientific principles and as a matter of fact it is a possible experiment that enables the conclusion that lightning is an electric phenomenon. Since we think that the answers to these questions are �yes� than we also think that Franklin should be fully credited with this experiment. There is some evidence that also Jacques de Romas, a Frenchmen, invented the famous kite experiment independently. Romas produced very long sparks in front of enthusiastic crowds in 1753. But regretfully only the name of Franklin is remembered. (The noteworthy involvement of Jacques de Romas in the experiments on the electric nature of lightning, Berger G�rard ; Ait Amar Sonia, Journal of electrostatics, 2009, vol.

67, no2-3, pp. 531-535.) The Invention of the Lightning Rod In 1750, Benjamin Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to determine if lightning was electricity. He proposed extending a conductor into a cloud that appeared to have the potential to become a thunderstorm. If electricity existed in the cloud, the conductor could be used to extract it. Basically this experiment is the same as the one with the kite except the fact that the pointed conductor in the case of the kite is much higher and closer to the charged clouds. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-Fran�ois Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment using a 40-foot (12 m)-tall iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. There is evidence that in the early 1750s Franklin himself tried the iron rod method for experimentation. It is clear that Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the lightning rod. He noted that conductors with a sharp rather than a smooth point were capable of discharging silently (like the case with the kite), and at a far greater distance.

He surmised that this knowledge could be of use in protecting buildings from lightning, by attaching upright rods of iron, made sharp and gilt to prevent rusting, and from the foot of those rods a wire down to the outside of the Building into the Ground. Following a series of experiments on Franklin's own house, lightning rods were installed on the Academy of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania) and the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in 1752. In the early 1750s, Franklin erected a lightning rod on top of his house for the purposes of experimentation, protection and, perhaps, to get electricity for experimentation without having to go through the laborious process of creating it himself via a primitive battery. Franklin's "iron rod" drew lightning down into his house. The rod was connected to a bell and a second bell was connected to a grounded wire. Every time there was an electrical storm, the bells would ring and sparks would illuminate his house (see below). Basically, the kite experiment and the lightning rod are based on the same scientific principle that electric charges try to find their way in the shortest and easiest way to the ground.

In the case of the kite experiment it was the wet kite and string, the key and Franklins body that grounded the clouds static electricity, and in the case of the lightning rod it is the sharp metallic rod. Follow in the Steps of Ben Franklin Don�t try to repeat the kite experiment or to erect lightning rods on building tops or elsewhere since those experiments are lethally dangerous. Warning: experiments with electricity should be performed under the supervision of teachers or adults familiar with electricity safety procedures. Especially, take in account that experiments with capacitors (Leyden jars) can produce lethal high voltage shocks dangerous to your health. Build a Leyden Jar Franklin used Leyden jars in many of his experiments as seen above. Among others, he built, from a few Leyden jars connected in parallel, a primitive kind of battery. A Leyden jar is a primitive, first invented, capacitor where the dielectric is a glass jar or a plastic container and the metal plates are aluminum or metal foils coating the inside and outside of the jar or container; the container is closed by a foil coated cap. A wire or chain is connected to the inside coating and its free end is passed through the cap.

The two electrodes of the Leyden jar are the outer foil coating and the wire or chain connected or touching the inside foil. Take in account that in order to get good results the Leyden jar must be grounded � put on any quite big metal surface. Wrinkles in the foil can be a major leakage source and is recommended to apply melted paraffin to the top of the both coatings for this end. You can charge your Leyden jar with an electrostatic generator, such as a Wimshurst machine or a Van de Graaf generator by connecting the machine�s two connectors to the Leyden jar�s electrodes. If you do not have an electrostatic machine you can also do it with an electrophorus or simply by rubbing fur. After your Leyden jar is charged you can discharge it and get sparks. The following links will help you in this effort: Build Your Benjamin Franklin Lightning Bells As mentioned above, Franklin erected a lightning rod on top of his house. The rod was connected to a bell and a second bell was connected to a grounded wire and a clapper or ball was suspended between them from an insulated stand. Every time there was an electrical storm approaching, the bells would ring.

This electrostatic device was invented in 1742 by Andrew Gordon, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University at Erfurt, Germany. Franklin used Gordon�s idea in order to build his storm alarm. We are not going to connect our bells to any lightning roads since this is extremely dangerous. Instead we are going to use either a Wimshurst Static Electric Machine or a Van de Graaff generator or a TV set as our static electricity resource. How does this interesting device works? The lightning rod will charge the bell which is connected to it. Then this bell will attract the clapper because of rearrangement of electrical charges inside the clapper through charge induction. When the clapper hits the charged bell it will become charged to the same charge potential and therefore it will be repelled. Since the opposite bell is charged oppositely this will also attract the clapper towards it. When the ball touches the second bell its charge is transferred to the clapper and as a result the clapper is charged the same and is repelled again, and the process repeats.

For more information: Kite History Traditions | Festivals | Religion | Tea | Tea Houses | Tea History | Calligraphy | Art Symbolism | Daoism | Xuanzang | Astrology | Lao Zi | Calendar | Marriage | Families | Kites | Dunhuang Art | Food | Food Terms | Medicinal Food | Medicine | Acupuncture | Making Lanterns | Papercuts | Chess | Go The Origin of Kites Dr. Keith Ray surveys the history of the kite in China. The article is taken from SACU's China Eye magazine 2004. The kite is something children all over the world play with. But how, and where, was the kite invented? And was it always a toy? The generally accepted wisdom is that the kite was invented in China. However it is also known that people in the South Sea Islands have used kites for fishing since very early times. They would attach bait to the tail of the kite together with a sort of net to catch the fish. This technique is still in use today. But the precise date when this started is unclear. By contrast there is sound documented evidence about the ancient use of kites in China.

It is likely that the inspiration for the kite came from ancient Chinese watching the effect of the wind on leaves, bamboo hats or sails. Certainly the Chinese were using wind sails before the kite was invented, and it is possible the kite came about when a wind sail became loose and floated up into the air still attached by one rope. But there are so many contradictory views that it is difficult to decide which is correct. However, whatever it was that inspired the kite, it is believed that the very first kite was made by Mo Di (468-376 BC), a famous philosopher who lived on Mount Lu (now the southeast of Qingzhou, Weifang, Shandong ). Here he made an eagle with wood in three years. After his three years of effort he managed to fly it for just one day. So the kite has a history of some 2,300 years. The story is that he passed his skills onto his student, Gongshu Ban (or Lu Ban) who improved on the design. Gongshu Ban made a kite in the form of a magpie, using bamboo and silk. With this improved design it is said that he managed to fly the kite for three days continuously.

Instead of being playthings, early kites were used for military purposes. Historical records say they were large in size; some were powerful enough to carry men up in the air to observe enemy movements, and others were used to scatter propaganda leaflets over hostile forces. According to the ancient book Records of Strange Events (Du Yi Zhi) when Emperor Wu di (464-549) of the Liang Dynasty, was surrounded at Taicheng, Flying butterfly kites in Weifang County, Shandong Nanjing by the rebel troops under Hou Jing, it was by means of a kite that he sent out an S.O.S. message for outside help. However his plan failed when the kite was brought down by the enemy. Both Chinese and Japanese learned to use kites for raising soldiers into the air as spies or snipers. Some old Japanese and Chinese prints show warriors flying over their enemies' territory. There is also a story from Japan about a famous robber named Kakinoki Kinsuke, who was supposed to have used a person-lifting kite to raise himself up to the roof of a castle where there were statues of dolphins made of gold. He was able to steal some of the scales from the dolphins and hid them.

He did not escape the authorities, though, and came to a rather fatal end by execution. There are many other interesting stories about the kite and its history. For example, General Han Sin used a kite to conquer an enemy castle. The castle was too heavily defended to risk an open attack, so Han Sin decided to breach a wall with a tunnel. He calculated the length of the tunnel by flying a kite over the castle walls and using geometry to figure the distance. It is believed that kite flying became a recreation probably from the Tang dynasty when the royal family and aristocrats were addicted to it. It was said that the Emperor Xuanzong in the Tang dynasty once was deeply attracted by a kite named Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea flying in the air . The invention of paper made kites cost less and they quickly spread among the common people. A 350m long kite with a dragon head and centipede body Kites also played an important part in superstition. It was believed, for instance, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), that flying a kite and then letting it go might send off one's bad luck and illness.

Consequently it would bring bad luck if one should pick up a kite lost by other people. This may be dismissed as superstition but may not be altogether without reason: think of the good it will do to a person, ill and depressed all the time, if he or she could go out into the fields and fresh air to fly a kite. Kites spread across Asia, and became, and remain to this day, an important part of popular culture and custom. In Korea, it is a tradition to write the names and birth dates of male children on the kites and then to fly them. The line is then cut to ensure a good year by taking all the bad spirits with it. In Thailand, each monarch had his or her own kite which was flown continuously during the winter months by imperial monks and priests. They were also flown during the monsoon season by the people of Thailand to send their prayers to the gods. In Japan, windsocks are used in the shape of a carp, a symbol of strength of will and fortitude. These windsocks are flown on May 5th, Children's Day, as an inspiration to the children. Kites were unknown in Europe for centuries until Marco Polo brought them back from his travels to the East.

Then Europeans, and later, Americans used kites for all kinds of scientific and military purposes. In China the kite is known as Fengzheng. This name came into use during the Five Dynasties (907-960 AD). According to the book Xun Chulu, by Lang Ying, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), people began to fix on kites some bamboo strips which, when high in the air, would vibrate and ring in the breeze like a zheng (a stringed instrument). Since then, the popular Chinese name for the kite has become fengzheng (wind zheng). The kites made today in certain localities are fixed with silk strings or rubber bands to give out pleasant ringing in the wind. The famous British scientist, Dr. Needham in his book 'A History of China's Science and Technology' describes kites as one of the major scientific inventions spread to Europe by China. It could be said that the kite was the original inspiration for man to fly, and so is directly the forerunner of the aeroplane. In the pavilion of aircraft of the National Aeronautics and Space Museum, Washington D.

C., a plaque says, "the earliest aircraft were the kites and missiles of China". The kite also featured in scientific experiments, most notably in 1782 when Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that thunder clouds were highly charged electrically by flying his kite into the storm clouds with a conductive wire (nearly killing himself in the process!). This also led to the invention of the lightning conductor. Kites remain popular world-wide, not just with children but also with serious adult enthusiasts. In 1983 a large-scale kite-flying competition was held in Tianjin . A “dragon-headed centipede” of a hundred sections, with a total length of a hundred metres, flown up by a squad of 5 or 6 young men of the Tianjin Fine Arts Factory, thrashed and danced about in the air. A Japanese enthusiast sent up a 300-metre-long kite which was a string of 270 separate sections. The well-known Weifang (Shandong Province) Kite Festival has become an annual feature in the country, drawing hundreds of participants each April from China and many foreign countries.

Today in China Tianjin is well known for its kite making and the most famous craftsman in Tianjin was Wei Yuantai, nicknamed Kite Wei, who made kites for more than 70 years. The first kite made in China was a butterfly or eagle kite with a rigid framework. The selection of materials was limit ed and the craftsmanship was clumsy. Kite Wei developed some 200 kites with many new structure designs, such as flat hard-winged, soft-winged, three-dimensioned and foldaway kites. The foldaway kite has a flexible bamboo framework secured with glue instead of thread, and reinforced by a copper ring at every joint. Kites, one to three meters long can be folded and held in a very small box. More than fifty kinds of kites made by the Weis' have been exhibited in China and abroad. In 1915, Wei Yuantai kites won a gold medal and a certificate of merit at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Wei's kites have obvious virtues, such as fine craftsmanship, vivid appearance and good balance. Later generations of Wei inherited and developed these strong points.

Wei Yonghang, the third generation of Wei Yuantai, developed more than 50 new designs further on the base of old Wei designs. Beijing is also famous for kite making. With large variety in shape, Beijing kites, which are made of paper or silk and painted totally by hand, have a good market reputation home and abroad. The most experienced craftsman in Beijing, named Fei Baolin, has developed several hundred kinds of kites in different shapes and sizes. The smallest is as small as the palm of your hand. New Zealander Peter Lynn flies a 100-yard long inflatable Gecko. Reza Ragheb who lives in Aurora Colorado decorates huge parafoil sails with Native American motifs. Peter Malinski, a German kite artist, built a stack of 270 Japanese-style “Yakko” kites. A team of Dutch kite aficionados created a record for the world's largest kite with an inflatable design of 5,952 square feet. Japanese kite maker Eiji Ohashi attached hundreds of individual kites to one string and connected both ends to the ground, forming a gigantic arc in the air.

(In Japan the arc is a symbol for friendship.) The Hadzicki brothers of San Diego, California have popularised a new style of highly manoeuvrable four-line kites. And Scott Skinner of Monument, Colorado combines traditional Japanese flying designs with American quilting techniques to meld art forms, traditions, and cultures. Maybe the kite has now become an adult toy instead! The photographs show some of the variety of kite design. © Copyright Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU) 2004, reprinted from SACU's magazine China Eye, Issue 2, 2004 . The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of SACU. If you have any comments, updates or corrections please let us know via our Contact page . Franklin Discovered Electricity with Kite | MythBusters | Discovery Franklin Discovered Electricity with Kite posted: 04/11/12 As seen in "MythBusters: Franklin's Kite." DCL Finding: BUSTED Explanation: Just like George Washington never chopped down that precious cherry tree, the venerable Benjamin Franklin probably didn't fly his famous kite, either.

The American legend likely sprang from an article Franklin wrote for the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1752 describing a theoretical kite-lightning experiment. Supposedly, the genius of yore picked a stormy day to fly a silken kite, complete with a lightning rod and a key dangling on the end of the string. When the lightning struck the kite, the powerful bolt traveled down the string and charged the metal key. Franklin then touched the key and got zapped, thus proving the existence of electricity. To test the stunt, MythBusters Kari Byron, Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci reanimated Ben Franklin in the form of a ballistics gel dummy with a resistor nested in his torso to match a human's natural electrical resistance. They also outfitted Ben with a heart monitor to detect the amount of electricity the shocking key sent into the fake body. Any reading above 6 milliamps — the maximum charge of the average stun gun — would mean Ben's death sentence. They then attached a kite to Ben, flew it inside a power-plant testing facility and jolted it with half a million volts of fake lightning. For comparison, a real lightning bolt may contain several hundred million volts.

Even with that fraction of electricity from the simulated lightning, that key would've been far too hot for the real Ben Franklin to handle. The heart monitor reading exceeded the 6 milliamp threshold, effectively killing off the myth. Franklin's Lightning Rod | The Franklin Institute Franklin's Lightning Rod Franklin's Lightning Rod Franklin's Lightning Rod What would you think if you saw a man chasing a thunder and lightning storm on horseback? You would probably wonder what on Earth he was trying to do. Well, if you lived in the 1700s and knew Benjamin Franklin, this is just what you might see during a terrible storm. Ben was fascinated by storms; he loved to study them. If he were alive today, we could probably add "storm-chaser" to his long list of titles. It was in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1746 that Franklin first stumbled upon other scientists' electrical experiments. He quickly turned his home into a little laboratory, using machines made out of items he found around the house. During one experiment, Ben accidentally shocked himself.

In one of his letters, he described the shock as "...a universal blow throughout my whole body from head to foot, which seemed within as well as without; after which the first thing I took notice of was a violent quick shaking of my body..." (He also had a feeling of numbness in his arms and the back of his neck that gradually wore off.) Franklin spent the summer of 1747 conducting a series of groundbreaking experiments with electricity. He wrote down all of his results and ideas for future experiments in letters to Peter Collinson, a fellow scientist and friend in London who was interested in publishing his work. By July, Ben used the terms positive and negative (plus and minus) to describe electricity, instead of the previously used words "vitreous" and "resinous." Franklin described the concept of an electrical battery in a letter to Collinson in the spring of 1749, but he wasn't sure how it could be useful. Later the same year, he explained what he believed were similarities between electricity and lightning, such as the color of the light, its crooked direction, crackling noise, and other things.

There were other scientists who believed that lightning was electricity, but Franklin was determined to find a method of proving it. By 1750, in addition to wanting to prove that lightning was electricity, Franklin began to think about protecting people, buildings, and other structures from lightning. This grew into his idea for the lightning rod. Franklin described an iron rod about 8 or 10 feet long that was sharpened to a point at the end. He wrote, "the electrical fire would, I think, be drawn out of a cloud silently, before it could come near enough to strike..." Two years later, Franklin decided to try his own lightning experiment. Surprisingly, he never wrote letters about the legendary kite experiment; someone else wrote the only account 15 years after it took place. In June of 1752, Franklin was in Philadelphia, waiting for the steeple on top of Christ Church to be completed for his experiment (the steeple would act as the "lightning rod"). He grew impatient, and decided that a kite would be able to get close to the storm clouds just as well.

Ben needed to figure out what he would use to attract an electrical charge; he decided on a metal key, and attached it to the kite. Then he tied the kite string to an insulating silk ribbon for the knuckles of his hand. Even though this was a very dangerous experiment, (you can see what our lightning rod at the top of the page looks like after getting struck), some people believe that Ben wasn't injured because he didn't conduct his test during the worst part of the storm. At the first sign of the key receiving an electrical charge from the air, Franklin knew that lightning was a form of electricity. His 21-year-old son William was the only witness to the event. Two years before the kite and key experiment, Ben had observed that a sharp iron needle would conduct electricity away from a charged metal sphere. He first theorized that lightning might be preventable by using an elevated iron rod connected to earth to empty static from a cloud.

Franklin articulated these thoughts as he pondered the usefulness of a lightning rod: "May not the knowledge of this power of points be of use to mankind, in preserving houses, churches, ships, etc., from the stroke of lightning, by directing us to fix, on the highest parts of those edifices, upright rods of iron made sharp as a needle...Would not these pointed rods probably draw the electrical fire silently out of a cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible mischief!" Franklin began to advocate lightning rods that had sharp points. His English colleagues favored blunt-tipped lightning rods, reasoning that sharp ones attracted lightning and increased the risk of strikes; they thought blunt rods were less likely to be struck. King George III had his palace equipped with a blunt lightning rod. When it came time to equip the colonies' buildings with lightning rods, the decision became a political statement. The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the King. The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them. Franklin's lightning rods could soon be found protecting many buildings and homes.

The lightning rod constructed on the dome of the State House in Maryland was the largest "Franklin" lightning rod ever attached to a public or private building in Ben's lifetime. It was built in accord with his recommendations and has had only one recorded instance of lightning damage. The pointed lightning rod placed on the State House and other buildings became a symbol of the ingenuity and independence of a young, thriving nation, as well as the intellect and inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin. Note: The object pictured above is part of The Franklin Institute's protected collection of objects. The image is © The Franklin Institute. All rights are reserved. Lightning Rod History - Invention of the Lightning Rod . LIGHTNING ROD Benjamin Franklin was fascinated by storms; he loved to study them. If he were alive today, we could probably add "storm-chaser" to his long list of titles. It was in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1746 that Franklin first stumbled upon other scientists' electrical experiments. He quickly turned his home into a little laboratory, using machines made out of items he found around the house. During one experiment, Ben accidentally shocked himself. Franklin spent the summer of 1747 conducting a series of groundbreaking experiments with electricity.

He wrote down all of his results and ideas for future experiments in letters to Peter Collinson, a fellow scientist and friend in London who was interested in publishing his work. By July, Ben used the terms positive and negative (plus and minus) to describe electricity, instead of the previously used words "vitreous" and "resinous." Franklin described the concept of an electrical battery in a letter to Collinson in the spring of 1749, but he wasn't sure how it could be useful. Later the same year, he explained what he believed were similarities between electricity and lightning, such as the color of the light, its crooked direction, crackling noise, and other things. There were other scientists who believed that lightning was electricity, but Franklin was determined to find a method of proving it. By 1750, in addition to wanting to prove that lightning was electricity, Franklin began to think about protecting people, buildings, and other structures from lightning. This grew into his idea for the lightning rod. Franklin described an iron rod about 8 or 10 feet long that was sharpened to a point at the end.

He wrote, "the electrical fire would, I think, be drawn out of a cloud silently, before it could come near enough to strike..." Two years later, Franklin decided to try his own lightning experiment. Surprisingly, he never wrote letters about the legendary kite experiment; someone else wrote the only account 15 years after it took place. In June of 1752, Franklin was in Philadelphia, waiting for the steeple on top of Christ Church to be completed for his experiment (the steeple would act as the "lightning rod"). He grew impatient, and decided that a kite would be able to get close to the storm clouds just as well. Ben needed to figure out what he would use to attract an electrical charge; he decided on a metal key, and attached it to the kite. Then he tied the kite string to an insulating silk ribbon for the knuckles of his hand. Even though this was a very dangerous experiment, (you can see what our lightning rod at the top of the page looks like after getting struck), some people believe that Ben wasn't injured because he didn't conduct his test during the worst part of the storm.

At the first sign of the key receiving an electrical charge from the air, Franklin knew that lightning was a form of electricity. His 21-year-old son William was the only witness to the event. Two years before the kite and key experiment, Ben had observed that a sharp iron needle would conduct electricity away from a charged metal sphere. He first theorized that lightning might be preventable by using an elevated iron rod connected to earth to empty static from a cloud. Franklin began to advocate lightning rods that had sharp points. His English colleagues favored blunt-tipped lightning rods, reasoning that sharp ones attracted lightning and increased the risk of strikes; they thought blunt rods were less likely to be struck. King George III had his palace equipped with a blunt lightning rod. When it came time to equip the colonies' buildings with lightning rods, the decision became a political statement. The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the King. The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them. Franklin's lightning rods could soon be found protecting many buildings and homes.

The lightning rod constructed on the dome of the State House in Maryland was the largest "Franklin" lightning rod ever attached to a public or private building in Ben's lifetime. It was built in accord with his recommendations and has had only one recorded instance of lightning damage. The pointed lightning rod placed on the State House and other buildings became a symbol of the ingenuity and independence of a young, thriving nation, as well as the intellect and inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin. TO LEARN MORE by Tom Tucker, Richard Loehle / Paperback - 144 pages / Sunburst (1998) The stories of twenty ingenious young Americans who have filed patents with the United States Patent Office, including Chester Greenwood who invented ear muffs, Ralph Samuelson, originator of water-skiing, and Vanessa Hess who created colored car wax. Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll by Franklyn Mansfield Branley, True Kelley / Paperback - 32 pages / (1999) / Harpercollins Juvenile Did you know that lightning bolts can be over a mile long? Or that they may come from clouds that are ten miles high? Storms can be scary, but not if you know what causes them.

All About Lightning by Martin A. Uman / Paperback - 167 pages (December 1986) / Dover Pubns The physics of lightning (voltage, current, charge, speed, event sequence, frequency of occurrence, length/width of channel, temperature, etc).

Question: Who invented the lightning conductor after flying a kite in a storm?
Answer: Benjamin Franklin