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One day, Ben held a picnic, and while trying to cook the turkey, he shocked himself.  This is how he got the idea that electricity was the same thing as lightning.  So he sent a letter to some scientists in Europe telling them to build a small box on a high tower, and on top, put a pointed rod.  The rod should go from the bottom of the box through the top of the box and point up.  When the tower is finished, let a man stand in the box during a storm.  Ben thought that lightning would be attracted to iron rods and this experiment could test this theory.  If the man sees that lightning is attracted to the iron rod that would prove that lightning is the same as electricity.  

The reason Ben didn’t do the experiment himself was because Philadelphia didn’t have a high enough tower or hill.  He knew that lightning was going to hit the rod because lightning hits the tallest things around, so the experiment had to use a very high tower.  When the scientist did the experiment, three men proved Benjamin Franklin’s idea was right!  One of the three men died because he got shocked when the rod was hit by lightning.  Ben Franklin’s experiment proved that lightning was the same as electricity.  If Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity we wouldn’t have light bulbs or lights indoors.  We wouldn’t have anything with electrical cords because electrical outlets wouldn’t be invented yet.  Electrical outlets wouldn’t be invented because electricity wasn’t even understood.

[ The History of Electricity ] [ How Electricity Gets to Your House ]

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