![]() His Poor Richard's Almanac sold 10,000 copies a year in the colonies.Īt age 42, Franklin sold his Philadelphia printing business and became involved in social experiments like the American Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence. He was an expert swimmer, a vegetarian, multi-lingual, and a publisher. ![]() Franklin invented bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove. ![]() He was endowed with a strong urge to investigate his world and a great deal of self-discipline. At age eight he left the Boston Grammar School, ending his formal studies but only beginning a lifetime of learning. He demonstrated some "electric magic" to an audience which included the local postmaster, Benjamin Franklin. Spence from Scotland came to Philadelphia. With "electric magic" there was insufficient experimental investigation to explain its behavior. Sir Isaac Newton had proposed that basic mathematical laws were the foundation for understanding the forces of nature. Science was in its infancy during these times. The parlor tricks amused and fascinated people. "Electric magic" was in great demand at the royal courts of Europe as entertainment. Friction machines could charge the jars and electricity could be carried around and demonstrated. Machines for creating static electricity were invented.the Leyden jar was like a thermos bottle which stored volts. Lightning is a big spark.static electricity on a giant scale. He didn't know it, but he was demonstrating static electricity. He named this via electrica, after electra which is Greek for amber. William Gilbert, court healer to Queen Elizabeth, in the late 1500s, also used amber to duplicate the earlier experiments. Thales, the Greek philosopher, in 600 BC, rubbed a piece of amber with a dry cloth and noted that it would then attract feathers and straw. Socrates said, "that's not Zeus up there, it's a vortex of air." Genghis Kahn forbade his subjects from washing garments or bathing in running water during a storm. Early superstitions were observed as Cause and Effect, which now has been fancified as science. It took until the 1830's before the admiralty finally saw the light and forgot about old colonial rebellions.Įven Santa Klaus gets into the act with his reindeer Donner (thunder) and Blitzen (lightning). But since that device had been invented by a "rebel colonist" named Benjamin Franklin, The solution, of course, was to install lightning rods. And throughout early Europe, church bell ringers would make as much noise as possible, hoping to scare away the storms from these holy dwellings which were struck frequently by lightning.ĭuring the Napoleonic wars, more than 220 British tall ships were damaged-not by the French, but by lightning. A third would bang on a kettle to attract the thunder. Another one would pour water over twigs, imitating rain. One would knock two firebrands together the sparks imitating lightning. Lightning is associated with wind, rain and crop growth.Īs late as the early 1800s in Russia, when rain was wanted, three men climbed a tree. Sand paintings show the lightning bolt as a wink in the Thunderbird's eye. The Navajo Indians hold that lightning has great power in their healing rituals. Even today their medicine men go out in storms and bid the lightning to strike far away. Umpundulo is the lightning bird-god of the Bantu tribesmen in Africa. The Maruts used the thunderbolts as weapons. In the pantheistic Hindu religion, Indra was the god of heaven, lightning, rain, storms and thunder. Thor tossed lightning bolts at his enemies. Scandinavian mythology alludes to Thor, the thunderer, who was the foe of all demons. The Koran says "He it is who showeth you lightning and launches the thunderbolts." The Moslems also attributed lightning and thunder to their god. Greek and Roman temples often were erected at these sites, where the gods were worshipped in an attempt to appease them. Since lightning was a manifestation of the gods, any spot struck by lightning was regarded as sacred. Thunderbolts were invented by Minerva the goddess of wisdom. The Bible says "When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures."Įarly Greeks believed that lightning was a weapon of Zeus. ![]() As primitive man sought answers about the natural world, lightning became a part of his superstitions, his myths and his early religions. It was the magic fire from the sky that man captured and used to keep warm at night. From the beginning of written history, lightning has fascinated mankind. ![]()
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