Is it true that Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a thunderstorm?

Question

I never really thought about that until now, because it was mentioned in school through a little news thingie that we watched today.

Answer 1

Yes. And then he discovered electricity, but it was only because there was a key attached to the kite. It was so cool!

Answer 2

Franklin proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not different types of "electrical fluid" (as electricity was called then), but the same electrical fluid under different pressures. He was the first to label them as positive and negative respectively,[17] and he was the first to discover the principle of conservation of charge.[18] In 1750, he published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm that appeared capable of becoming a lightning storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment (using a 40-foot (12 m)-tall iron rod instead of a kite) and extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, Franklin may have possibly conducted his famous kite experiment in Philadelphia and also successfully extracted sparks from a cloud, although there are theories that suggest he never performed the experiment

Answer 3

Yep, it is true.

Answer 4

yes. he attached a key to it. that's how he learned about electricity

Answer 5

Probably not.  Mythbusters tried and couldn't even get significant static electricity.

Answer 6

Yep. 100% true.

Answer 7

no its not true .. how the h**l do  ufly i kite in a thunder strom... its just a way of telling your he was intersested in elcetrisity

Answer 8

Quite possibly not.  His original account seems to distance himself from it a bit.  Yes, trying to copy it produced several fried scientists.

Answer 9

Yes, but what people get wrong is that it was struck by lightning and he discovered electricity that way.  He actually got static electricity from the key at the end of his kite string.  If a lightning bolt actually hit the kite, it would have killed him.

Answer 10

yes its true

Answer 11

Yes it's SHOCKING and true ZAP ZAP beam em up scotty.

Answer 12

Yes.

Answer 13

When you think about it, he was frikin lucky.   Every time we have thunder here it is preceded by lots of rain.   In those days the old kite is made of paper(or even cloth) - no plastics...so just would have soaked and gotten heavy like a rock.   So he must have had a dry day on top  of it.   So maybe it is a fairy tale and he theorized the whole darn thing.(Waited till Hollywood appeared, and then made a movie about it as being true)

Answer 14

yes very dangerous and stupid but he knew how electricity was conducted and managed to stay safe

Answer 15

yes, if your american, its a very american story and if your not then everyon knows this anyway.

Answer 16

Yes, he surely did

Answer 17

yes its 100% true

Answer 18

yes it is true

Answer 19

heck yes lOl