1st Style: Encyclopedia Entry

The Man on the $100 bill

Now, we’ve all heard about Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment. It was likely a story that was told to you when you were in 1st or 2nd grade.  It is one of the biggest moments in history. But, we have to ask ourself.... What really happened when Ben's kite touched the lightning? Many historians ponder this question every single day. They want to know the truth about this event, considering its significance to our world today. I encourage you all to think like historians, too, to find more about the past of our world. As they all say, "those who are uneducated about their past are doomed to repeat it." Here's the tale of one of the most extraordinary and importnat days in history.

It was a dark day on June 10th, 1752. Benjamin Franklin had tried numerous experiments before this, all of which had proved to be worthless. He wanted to prove that electricity existed in different forms, or more specifically, in its form of nature. Ben looked over at his old kite, and realized that he may be able to electrify the kite, and prove that electricity could be found in lightning, in a natural form. So he took a key, attached it onto the top, and then tied a leyden jar onto the key. He went outside and realized that it would be a perfect day to fly the kite. Now, most people would say a windy day was a good day to fly a kite, but no, Ben thought that the dark day would be perfect for a kite flying. Why? Because he could test his theory if lightning were to appear.

So, he took it outside, and with the help of his son, William, he was able to get the kite flying while safe in his barn. When what appeared to be lightning charged the kite strings, Ben touched the key and experienced a little shock, as he had expected to. But, he suddenly fell to the ground. He had died. This was obviously a very high risk of the experiment, and Ben knew it. His son ran over and looked at the ground. Not only did he see his deceased father, but he saw the rubber glove that his dad had made that would have prevented him from becoming shocked. Ben had forgotten to put on the glove that could have saved his life.

Many people are unaware of this event. William was devastated after this happened, but was determined to keep quiet about what had happened. He had helped and knew about his father’s latest inventions, and thought his father should get credit for all of the work he did up to that point. His son went on to do everything we thought Ben Franklin actually did, one of those things being the invention of the lightning rod. He built the lightning rod, and patented it in Ben’s name. Everything else is history.

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/kite.htm

http://www.codecheck.com/cc/BenAndTheKite.html