Why does everyone say Ben Franklin "invented" electricity?

Question

Electricity has been around for a long time way before Ben Franklin came along. He DISCOVERED it and figured out how to channel it's energy, but he didn't "invent" it. Inventing is something that you yourself produce that didn't exist before.

Answer 1

chill out, people make mistakes.  

Answer 2

Its just a simple mix up for most people who say it.

Answer 3

Everyone does not say that; but based upon the rubbish I see here I can believe that plenty of folk DO say it.

Answer 4

I've never heard anyone say that. But if they did, it was just a mix up. They were just swapping the words as if they have the same meaning, when they don't. I guess people use them wrongly interchangeably because they both have to do with being the first to do stuff. Also, most things that people invented, they also discovered. ie alexander gram bell invented the first telephone, and also discovered how to comunicate through a handheld device connected through wires, or how Thomas Edison invented the first phonograph and also discovered how to record and play back sound. But in the case of Ben franklin discovering electricity, they are not interchangeable.

Answer 5

Because it is a promoted idea presented in many children shows. How often have you seen a clip or image of Franklin holding his kite with the key and getting shocked or just seeing the electricity? And instead of saying "Ben Franklin tested whether lightning produced an energy source" people oversimplify it and say he invented electricity.

He was a well known inventor and mixed with the highly promoted image of him and the kite, many people associate them together and form the myth you are inquiring about.