Go fry a kite!

On June 15th, 1752 (253 years ago today), Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous experiment where he flew a kite into a rain cloud and changed the way we saw electricity forever.

You might know that yes, he did this to prove his theories about static electricity had the same properties as lightning (though on a smaller scale), but it wasn't the "suicide mission" that legend makes it out to be. First, the kite did in fact have a metal key attached to the bottom of the string to serve as an attractor. However, Franklin made sure that he stood on a fairly well insulted position to keep any current from running through him. Second, Franklin ran his experiment during the early stages of the thunderstorm, before lightning could reach his position.

When the kite traveled through a few of the leading clouds in the cell, Franklin noticed that the strands of the string were standing on end, indicative of a static charge. He checked this hypothesis by placing his knuckle close to the hanging key, which caused a spark to junk to his knuckle. His theory proven, he finished his experiment and got out of there before the main body of the storm arrived.

Franklin used his findings from this experiment to invent the lightning rod, which has saved countless lives and structures since it was introduced.

For further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Franklin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_rod

(Source: Tech Republic)