Benjamin Franklin Extra Credit

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Benjamin Franklin Extra Credit Assignment By: Jackie Conley

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Writer, Inventor, Scientist 1706 - 1790

Franklin wrote, in August 1784 to his friend George Whatley, that he was "happy in the invention of double spectacles, which serving for distant objects as well as near ones, make my eyes as useful to me as ever they were."

Franklin showed that electricity consisted of a "common element" which he named "electric fire." Further, electricity was "fluid" like a liquid. It passed from one body to another — however it was never destroyed.

Once Franklin had an understanding of the behavior of electricity, he set about to protect houses from the destructive forces of lightning. A lightning rod, simply, is a rod attached to the top of a building, connected to the ground through a wire. The electric charge from lightning strikes the rod and the charge is conducted harmlessly into the ground. This protects houses from burning down and people from electrocution.

In colonial America, homes were warmed by a fireplace. The Franklin stove, invented in 1742, is a metal-lined fireplace that stands in the middle of a room

Franklin made eight voyages across the Atlantic Ocean (or, as it was known then, the Western Ocean) between the Colonies and Europe. He wondered why journeys eastward were faster than return trips. His curiosity led him to be the first to map the Gulf Stream.

Benjamin Franklin was an avid swimmer from a very young age. Throughout his life he consistently promoted its healthful benefits. At the ripe old age of 11 he invented a pair of swim fins. However, unlike today's foot flippers, these were attached to one's hands.

A popular entertainment in England in the early 18th century was playing music on upright wine goblets, with tones made by rubbing one's fingers around the lip of glasses filled with different quantities of fluid. In 1761, Franklin created a mechanized version, and called it the Armonica.

Franklin was curious as to how far he was traveling by carriage, in his role as postmaster, for his travels between Philadelphia and Boston. The concept was to attach the device near the wheels of a carriage, determine the circumference of the wheel and the number of revolutions required to travel a mile, and have the device register the distance traveled.

• http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/inventi ons.htm

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