ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY —
June 10, 1752 ⚡️
Benjamin Franklin took a silk kite, a hemp string, a metal key, and his son out into a thunderstorm... and changed the world.
He didn’t get struck by lightning. Instead, the wet string conducted ambient electric charge from the storm clouds. Sparks jumped from the key and even allowed him to collect a charge in a leyden jar.
One crazy, persistent experiment proved that the forces of nature could be understood, harnessed, and tamed.
Franklin coined the terms "conductor," "charge," and "battery" during these experiments, which led to the invention of the lightning rod.