PrefaceIntroductionSTORIES: Discoveries about CreativityLaws Of Planetary MotionElectricity From CloudsBand-AidPneumatic TyresGummed PaperThe Trap Of ParadigmInvention Of Sewing MachineJust-In-Time SystemTransmission of Nerve ImpulsesPrinting PressDangers Of LocomotivesFlashlightLawn MowerPhonographRubber HeelsThe Periodic TableDiscovery Of Electromagnetic FieldsThe Tao Of PhysicsCongenital Impact of RubellaTypewriterThe Theory Of EvolutionThe Benzene RingThe Wreck Of TitanicWagner's RheingoldUnderwater ConstructionSearch For The "Hidden Likeness"Fermi & Nuclear FissionCash RegisterDiscovery Of Current ElectricityCure Of DiabetesBoolean AlgebraPrinciple Of PhotosynthesisBall Point PenThe X-RayThe Fuschian FunctionsSafety GlassThe Creative TriggersWhy Aeroplanes Cannot FlyThe "Brownies" Of StevensonThe Blunder That Founded 3MInvention Of AC MotorDiscovery Of TeflonToynbee's The Study Of HistoryInventors' BlindnessThe Excitement Of CreativityElectric FanHow Typhus Gets TransmittedProof Of The Big BangMathematical Theory Of ChanceColeridge's Kubla KhanVulcanisation ProcessStructure Of The CrystalsThe Compulsion To Create3M's Post-It Note PadsIce Cream ConesThe Structural Theory Of AtomIBM And ComputersHelicopterHow Experts Resist IdeasCreative Reveries Of Enid BlytonPredictions In Gulliver's TravelsFloat Glass TechnologyPrinciple Of ImmunisationJourney Into UnknownThe Genius Of Karl Fredrich GaussJean Coceteau's The Knights Of The Round TableNeon LightTransistor RadiosPrecocious Minds?The Masterpiece Of Sir Walter ScottThe "Fraud" That Changed The WorldThe "99% Perspiration"XeroxingThe Poem Of Stephen SpenderThe Anatomy Of InspirationTravellers' ChequesEdison's FraudAwe, Wonder And AlienationThe Logic Of Irrational
Epilogue: Themes & Patterns |
Electricity from the Couds
The discovery which made him most famous, however, was the electrical nature of lightning and thunder. At the age of forty, in 1746, Franklin became interested in electricity, and made significant contributions of his own, e.g., pointed objects drew a much stronger spark when brought near an electrified body, than the blunt ones. One of his hunches was that the clouds are electrified body and that the lightning and thunder were electrical discharges. The problem was how to prove this contention. For quite some time, Franklin toyed with the idea of erecting a tall spire at Philedelphia, with a pointed rod fixed at the top; this would make it possible to bring down the electricity from a passing thunder cloud. The obstacles to this project seemed insurmountable, and Franklin started thinking of other ways catching the electricity from the cloud. The idea of using a kite came to him suddenly, while musing on a sport he had developed for himself long time back. An enthusiastic swimmer, as a young boy, Franklin used to float on his back in the lake for hours. The pull to his drifting was provided by the string of a kite, tied to him (in fact, he went on to suggest this as a possible method for crossing the English Channel). The problem of tapping electricity from the clouds was solved when Franklin realised that if kite can bring down energy from the wind, it can also be used for bringing down the electricity from the clouds. With the help of his son, he constructed a giant kite from silk, and flew it in June 1752 during a thunder storm. The electrical discharges were collected in a Leydan jar, and so "by the electric fire thus obtained spirits were inflamed and other experiments performed."
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