Q&A – Founding Father Benjamin Franklin
Thanks to students who submitted many wonderful questions during our webinar with Ben Franklin. We appreciate historical interpreter Stephen Smith, who portrays Franklin, for addressing these additional questions.
Q: Did you ever have children? How many?
A: Yes I did have three children, The oldest was William. Francis was my second child who, unfortunately, became ill with small pox at age 4 and died. I always regretted not having him vaccinated. My third child was named Sarah, but she loved to charge out of the house. To charge ahead was to “Sally forth,” so I liked to call her Sally. So, to add to the confusion, so many people think I had one boy and two girls because of the two names for Sarah when I actually had two boys and one girl.
Did you have a favorite sibling?
A: My younger sister, Jane, was my favorite. She forced me to teach her how to read and write during my few years in school. And we wrote to each other all our lives.
Q: Was your son also an inventor?
A: William was more of a scientist than an inventor. He helped with my many electrical experiments and even wrote about his own lightning experiment, where he proved that lighting actually comes down from the air and up from the ground at the same time.
Q: Which of your inventions did your parents like the best?
A: During the time I lived with my parents, my best inventions were the swim fins for my feet and the wooden webbing for my hands. My swimming experiments happened at a mill pond not far from our house on Market Street, so my parents could easily know where and what I was doing.
Q: Did you and your brother ever become friends after you ran away?
A: Yes, we became friends later in life, but it took some time. I had returned from Boston and really rubbed my brother’s nose in my success, which didn’t help. But, later, when James became ill, I was the one to come to his aid by inventing a medical device to help him and by taking care of James’s son, James Jr., as a printing apprentice.
Q: Who was your closest friend?
A: This is a hard question to answer. In much of my writing I didn’t mention the names of my childhood friends, perhaps for their own protection. I often led my friends into trouble that I freely tell about in my writing, like taking rocks from a construction site to build a fishing pier (that we had to dredge back out of the muddy water and return to the site).
I later knew a bookish lad like me named John Collins. We were very fond of argument. We would choose different sides of a question and debate either in person or by letters.
But my very best friend was my dear wife, Deborah, who knew me the best.
Q: Did you go to college?
A: No, but I did receive honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, William and Mary College, and two Doctorate Degrees from Scotland and England. Pretty good for someone with only two years in school.
Q: How many languages do you speak?
A: My native language is English, but while living among the Pennsylvania Dutch, I also learned German and even published a German language newspaper for a short while. I learned French to help with negotiations during the war. And, as a scientist, it was important to also know Latin. Add in a little Italian, Spanish, and a rudimentary understanding of some native Indian languages, including my own invention of a phonetic language that never became popular.
Q: What do you consider your most difficult experiment?
A: Difficult is hard to define, Difficult because I almost died – that would be trying to kill a turkey with electricity and accidentally taking the charge myself.
Surprisingly enough, my Franklin stove was difficult because it always had many problems and had to be revised over the years, and I never was satisfied with it.
My most difficult invention was the Glass Armonica. With the help of a glass blower, we blew multiple balls, cut in half to make bowls, ground down to create certain notes when rubbed, drilled and mounted on a shaft and attached to a spinning wheel mechanism. And then when played so many players complained about painful wrists…they even called it cursed!
But, honestly, the most difficult experiment is the one we are still continuing – this democracy and Constitution are a great experiment… What will be the outcome?
Q: What made you think of the kite experiment? Can you tell us more details about the experiment?
A: I could create the appearance of miniature lightning from the point of an electrified pin and larger discharges often made a snap or a sound. Where else is there a bright flash and a loud sound? Lightning!
To prove that lightning was electricity would require capturing lighting in a Leyden jar and comparing it to our friction electricity that we kept in a Leyden Jar. As lightning comes to the ground, if I could find a way to interrupt the path long enough to charge a Leyden jar then I could compare the jars.
My first plan was to build a metal cage with a pointed rod on top to collect the electrical fluid. If I am inside the cage standing on wax ( wax is an insulating material), then I could charge the Leyden Jar from the electrified cage. I asked some scientists in England and France to try this experiment, as I did not have tall enough buildings in Philadelphia.
Then I came up with my second plan – with a kite to carry the pointed metal rod above the trees.
The metal point would pull the power from the cloud. A wet silk kite would conduct the electricity to the wet string, the wet string would bring the electricity to the key. From the key, I would have a dry silk ribbon run to me so I would not receive the charge. (I stayed dry in the barn and William actually launched the kite.) We collected the energy from the clouds, then the key danced with miniature lightning from the points on the key. We charged Leyden Jars from the key, and by comparison they acted the same as electricity made from rubbing wool or silk with resin or glass. By this comparison we knew that Lighting was, indeed, electricity!
Q: What inspires you to experiment and invent?
A: Curiosity and boredom!
When I don’t know something, my curiosity steps in, and I want to find the answer. Sometimes my experiments were to find an unknown, and other experiments are to prove a hypothesis. When I believed something was true, I created an experiment that tried many variables to see if my idea was actually true.
Many of my inventions were inspired because I was asked to do something boring, and I invented a better way to do it, or better yet, something that would do the job for me so I didn’t have to do it at all.
- Hate to chop wood? Make a stove to heat a house with less wood.
- Hate changing glasses between reading and observing long distance? Invent double spectacles or bifocals.
- Can’t reach high books? Create a long arm to grab things from high shelves or even floor.
Q: Are there any experiments you recommend for us to try ourselves?
A: An easy experiment to determine the best clothes for different weather is to place a dark colored fabric piece and a light-colored fabric piece on the snow in the sunlight. Observe what they do and decide which would be better in each season. (Usually, the dark absorbs light and heat and sinks into the snow and the white remains cooler and doesn’t sink…your conclusion.)
A harder experiment is to create your own leyden jar out of a paper cup (like a modern Dixie cup). Wrap tinfoil around the outside of the cup leaving a quarter inch space down from the rim. Partially fill the cup with water. Find a way to create static electricity. If you rub your feet and touch a door knob and receive a spark, rub a balloon or hair to create a spark. (DO NOT USE ANY OTHER SOURCE OF ELECTRICITY, BATTERY OR PLUG!) Holding the tinfoil part of the cup you can charge the water with static electricity by walking across a carpet rubbing your shoes, then try to put a spark from the doorknob or balloon into the water. Your Leyden jar is charged and you will feel the spark if you take a sip. As your lower lip touches the foil and your upper lip touches the water you should feel a tingle. The variables in this experiment are many ranging, from humidity to dryer sheet residue on clothing, etc.
The science: A “leyden jar” is actually a capacitor, two conductors ( tinfoil and water) separated by a dielectric non-conductor (wax paper cup). A different charge is created between the two conductors. When you sip, you become the bridge and you feel the charge as they equalize.
My leyden jars were clay or glass jars as the dielectric and dipped in lead or tin to make the outer conductor and the water was the inner conductor. The nails through the cork touching the water and the outer metal coating were the two items when connected created electrical current.
