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Contribution of Benjamin Franklin to Electricity

Benjamin Franklin was a leading author, political activist, publisher,


scientist, diplomat and much more. He was one of the Founding Fathers of
the United States. Here, in this post, we will talk about his seminal
contributions to electricity.
Benjamin Franklin (17th January 1706 17th April 1790)
Benjamin Franklin was born on 17th January 1706 in Boston Massachusetts.
Due to financial constraints he could not graduate from Boston Latin
School. However, he was a voracious reader and this compensated for formal education. His love for
electricity started in 1743 after attending a lecture by Dr. Archibald Spencer. Dr. Spencer was famous for
showing tricks using electricity.
Conservation of Electricity
Benjamin Franklin was the first person to coin and use the terms positive and negative charge. He
discovered, through experiments, that electricity is not generated by rubbing two objects, but is rather
transferred from one object to the other. Franklin also discovered that positive and negative charge is
always balanced in all objects in nature. This balance is achieved by transfer of positive charge from a
higher charged to a lower charged body. This is called Principle of Conservation of Electricity. Ben
Franklin was the first person to use the terms charging and discharging while describing transfer of
electricity. (Read more on battery Charging and Discharging)
Electric Battery
Ben Franklin built an electric battery using glass window panes and thin lead plates. Using his electric
battery, a term he coined himself, he showed how electricity could be stored in the glass and passed
through it. Shouldnt we call it the great-grand-dad of electric batteries?
Leyden Jar Experiments
During Bejamin Franklins time, Leyden Jars were used to store and transfer electricity. These jars were
made of glass, covered with metal foil on the inner and outer surfaces and filled with water. Franklin did
extensive experiments with Leyden Jars and discovered that the electricity was stored in the jar rather

than water, as was believed. He found that jars could be made of any material. However, the amount of
electricity stored would depend on the type of material used.
Kite Experiment
One of the most famous experiments done by Benjamin Franklin
was the Kite Experiment. He attached a long wire to a kite made
of silk. He used it to draw electricity from storm clouds and charge
a Leyden Jar. Through his experiments, he proved that storm
clouds carried electricity and lightning was nothing but a heavily
charged spark of electricity. This was a path breaking discovery of
his times because in those days thunder storms and lightning
strikes caused widespread damage to wooden structures.
Franklin built a setup called Franklin Bells which served as a warning for approaching thunder clouds.
He also used the setup to collect charge and use it for other experiments.
The Lightning Rod
Franklin discovered that when a pointed object is held towards a charged object, it draws electricity from
the object. After the Kite Experiment, he wondered if a metal rod could be used to draw electricity from
the thunder clouds. That was the birth of lightning rod!! He constructed the first lightning rod to be
installed at tops of buildings. These rods transferred the sudden burst of electricity discharge and passed
it to the ground through a wire without causing any damage. It is still used in buildings today. (You can
make your own mini-lightning following these instructions).
You should remember that all the electricity and electric charge we are talking about is static. i.e. there is
no flow of electric current. That came only with the invention of voltaic pile byAlessandro Volta.
Benjamin Franklin died on 17th April 1790, leaving a legacy of inventions to be used and refined upon
by others. A few of his inventions, other than those mentioned above, include bifocals, street lights,
Franklin stove, glass armonica, and the carriage odometer.

HOW ELETRICTY IS MADE


Electricity for powering our homes is made in power stations.
A power station contains large machines called turbines, which are turned very quickly.
Power stations need large amounts of energy to turn the turbines. Most use heat energy produced from
burning coal. Others use wind energy or moving water. The spinning turbine causes large magnets to
turn within wire coils - these are the generators. The moving magnets within the coil of wire causes the
electrons (charged particles) to move within the coil of wire. This is electricity.
Steam turbine generators, gas turbine generators, diesel engine generators, alternate energy systems
(except photovoltaics), even nuclear power plants all operate on the same principle - magnets plus
copper wire plus motion equals electric current. The electricity produced is the same, regardless of
source.

Electricity generation - whether from fossil fuels, nuclear, renewable fuels, or other sources - is based on
the fact that:
Electricity is a basic part of our life and it is one of our most widely used forms of energy. We get
electricity, which is a secondary energy source, from the conversion of other sources of energy, like coal,
natural gas, oil, nuclear power and other natural sources, which are called primary sources.

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