Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ben Franklin: Scientist or Magician?
zooba ^ | 1/28/2002 | Alison Freisinger

Posted on 01/28/2002 4:47:08 PM PST by Exigence

Ben Franklin: Scientist or Magician?
by Alison Freisinger

Electricity was, for the most part, a useless parlor diversion in Benjamin Franklin's time. Men called "electricians" performed like magicians. Dr. Archibald Spencer, for example, would suspend a boy from the ceiling and coax static electric sparks from the child's limbs. Franklin, however, was one of the first people to realize that so-called "electrical fluid" might have practical uses.

Experiments, which ran from roasting a turkey with electricity to designing bells that heralded the presence of lightning (and irritated his wife to no end), helped Franklin define attributes of electricity. He recognized it as a potential source of energy, and was the first person to use terms like condenser, conductor, charge, battery, and electric shock. Franklin discovered the lightning rod, though some of his contemporaries refused to use it. They feared that it might cause earthquakes by drawing the violent power of electricity into the ground, and some believed that to avoid lightning was to deny the punishment or warnings of God.

Electricity was not Franklin's only scientific interest. He invented the Franklin stove, bifocals, plaster, a clothes-pressing machine, and an odometer. His studies of the world around him led to discoveries in meteorology, engineering, and other practical fields, eventually prompting Robert Millikan, who won the 1923 Nobel Prize for physics, to rank Franklin fifth among great scientists--after Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Huygens. In a truly democratic gesture, Franklin refused to patent any of his inventions, believing they should be available to all.

A serious scientist, Franklin was not above using science to perform a little "magic" now and then. At an English estate in 1772, Franklin boasted that he could quiet the river. Walking to the water's edge, he made sweeping passes over the river with his bamboo cane, and the waters ran smooth. His astonished viewers didn't know his cane was filled with oil, which had coated the water.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last
Now I suppose we'll have to avoid teaching our children about Benjamin Franklin lest they be ensnared by magic.

This article supports the premise that I have argued before: magic to science is often a continuum from what we don't yet understand to what we do.

1 posted on 01/28/2002 4:47:08 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: Exigence
Franklin also created a musical, the armonica.
Noting the sounds created by rubbing water or wine along the edge of a crystal glass. He noted that different amounts of water int he glasses would creat different sounds.
Franklin created an instrument of interlocking glass cups of different sizes with a hole in the midle of each. A spindle is placed in this hole and hung horizontaly. The glasses are then spun slowly around using a mechanical devise. Water is rubbed on the glasses creating an etherial sound.
3 posted on 01/28/2002 5:02:32 PM PST by rmlew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rmlew
The armonica. Wasn't that the instrument that was rumored to be cursed because all the musicians that played it got sick or died? Turned out that they were being poisoned by the lead in the glass.

A. Cricket

4 posted on 01/28/2002 5:46:41 PM PST by another cricket
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Exigence
His astonished viewers didn't know his cane was filled with oil, which had coated the water.

good thing the EPA wasn't around back then. franklin could have ended up in jail for doing unspeakable harm to the ecosystem.

5 posted on 01/28/2002 5:50:49 PM PST by modern_orthodox
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Exigence
Siegfrid or Roy?
6 posted on 01/28/2002 5:53:00 PM PST by lonestar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: another cricket
According to the History Channel.
7 posted on 01/28/2002 6:04:15 PM PST by rmlew
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Exigence
Ben Franklin turned me into a newt.

(I got better.)

8 posted on 01/28/2002 6:08:00 PM PST by dead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Faith_j
Boy are you fixated. Witchcraft, however, is not the topic I introduced. It's the concept of magic as yet-to-be-understood science.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe that Ben Franklin committed any murders -- voodoo or otherwise. Try to keep up, will ya?

9 posted on 01/28/2002 7:38:04 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: another cricket
The armonica. Wasn't that the instrument that was rumored to be cursed because all the musicians that played it got sick or died? Turned out that they were being poisoned by the lead in the glass.

Shhhhh.... or you-know-who will read this and try to link Poor Ben to those voodoo murders after all.

10 posted on 01/28/2002 7:39:55 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: modern_orthodox
good thing the EPA wasn't around back then. franklin could have ended up in jail for doing unspeakable harm to the ecosystem.

Probably. Or, he could be booted out of the NJ history standards, along with George Washington. Nothing like a little history revisionism to set the world right. *tongue in cheek*

11 posted on 01/28/2002 7:41:52 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Exigence
"Of those patriots who made independence possible, none mattered more than Franklin, and only Washington mattered as much"

H. W. Brands (Franklin Biographer)

12 posted on 01/28/2002 7:55:32 PM PST by monkey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: Faith_j
You've spent months posting threads looking for ways to make witchcraft look good. In some way, you are personally responsible for the murders that occur.

I guess you didn't "hear" me the first time, so I'll repeat myself. This thread is not about witchcraft. Quit trolling for trouble.

14 posted on 01/28/2002 9:16:38 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: Faith_j
In some way, you are personally responsible for the murders that occur.

BTW, you might want to reconsider such accusations. They are reckless and low class in the extremist sense of the definitions. You might also want to read the blurb on the posting screen about no personal attacks. Accusing someone of being a murderer qualifies as a personal attack, doncha think?

17 posted on 01/28/2002 9:21:04 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Faith_j
You've trolled for me at least three times in the above thread.

Sweetie, I posted the original article. That's not "trolling" you. Get it? You responded to *my* post. LOL

Perhaps you misunderstand the word... or the world.

18 posted on 01/28/2002 9:24:54 PM PST by Exigence
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-49 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson