Benjamin Franklin

greatest fame as a scientist was the result of his discoveries in electricity

• Using an iron rod he brought down electricity into his house, he concluded that clouds were generally negatively electrified.
• Kite experiment: drawing down electricity from the clouds and charging a Leyden jar from the key at the end of the string.
• Single Fluid Theory:
• electricity flows from a positive body, that with an excess charge, to a negative body, that with negative charge.

Untitled Slide

• electrical terms which Franklin coined during his experiments include: battery charge condensor conductor plus minus positively negatively armature They are still the terms we use today.