Copyright 2002 Jigyungsa Ltd, Korea.
Capturing the Lightning,
page 1, page 2, page 3. Capturing the Lightning: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod, page 1(The translation is below the comic.)
2002 copyright Jigyungsa Ltd, Korea. - Lightning and thunder is the phenomenon created when electrical charges in the air come into contact with the electrical charges on the ground.
- The first person who understood this phenomenon was America's Benjamin Franklin.
- Franklin: "Very scary!"
- "Will the sky be split into half if this goes on?"
Close Capturing the Lightning: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod, page 2(The translation is below the comic.)
2002 copyright Jigyungsa Ltd, Korea. - When there is lightning and thunder there is a danger of being struck.
Franklin: "Someone has been killed by lightning!" "Even the house has fallen!" "Oh heavens!" - Franklin: "What exactly is lightning?" "Is it possible to avoid this danger?"
- After repeated research Franklin finally understood that lightning was basically electricity. Franklin: "Apparently sharp things can absorb electricity better."
- When he was young Benjamin Franklin loved to fly kites. This gave him the inspirational idea of attaching a metal piece to a kite. Franklin: "I will use this kite to catch the lightning!"
- On a rainy day he conducted a dangerous experiment. Franklin: "Fly kite, fly!"
Close Capturing the Lightning: Benjamin Franklin's Lightning Rod, page 3
(The translation is below the comic.)
2002 copyright Jigyungsa Ltd, Korea.- From what he learned from this experiment, Franklin invented the lightning rod which conducted electricity from the lightning to the ground.
- In the instance when there is lightning and thunder ...
- We see light first and then after that we hear thunder because of the difference in their speeds. Lightning: "Light travels at 300 km in one second." Thunder: "But sound only travels 340 meters in one second."
- Because the speed of light is 8,802 times faster than sound, we always see lightning first and hear thunder later. Franklin: "I've seen lightning, will thunder come later?"
- With the help of Franklin's invention, sky scrapers, airplanes, ships and cars all installed lightning rods. With that, the escape from the terror of lightning!
- After he passed away, the Americans carved the following epitaph on his tombstone: Benjamin Franklin the man who captured lightning and thunder.
—WARNING—this part isn't true. What is really on Franklin's grave are the words, Benjamin and Deborah Franklin: 1790.
Close When I was growing up in Singapore, my grandfather read me Chinese stories of famous people and the feats they accomplished on the other side of the world, away from Singapore. One such person he talked about was Ben Franklin, a myth in his own proportions.
Who was Ben Franklin?When I started middle school in Singapore, I asked a teacher, "Who's Benjamin Franklin?" He told me that besides being one of the founding fathers of America, Franklin was a very unfortunate scientist. He was electrocuted so badly during one of his experiments that he couldn't stop speaking in riddles after that!
My teacher added that another experiment rendered him so ill that he was doomed to work at a post office for the rest of his life!
Close I've since learned a lot about Franklin, who celebrates his 301st birthday on January 17, 2007. We all know that he helped write the Declaration of Independence and was one of the signers, but do you know that he was also...
Silence Dogood
Franklin won hearts under the pseudonym 'Silence Dogood.' When Franklin was 15, his brother started a newspaper that printed opinion articles, advertisements and news of ship schedules. Young Franklin, an avid writer, wanted to contribute to the newspaper too, but he knew his brother would never allow it.
To get around this problem Franklin wrote articles under the pseudonym Silence Dogood, a fictional widow. Every night he would slide an article underneath the print shop door, to be printed in the morning.
The articles addressed important world issues, especially concerning the treatment of women. The public, especially women, loved them!
King of Maxims
Have you heard or used the phrase, "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"? Or perhaps you have been encouraged to take risks because "he that would fish must venture his bait"? Franklin was famous for these maxims, and others.
Franklin's MaximsTo encourage the eating of citrus fruit and apples, Franklin coined the phrase "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".
He recognized the benefits of Vitamin C way before it was even discovered!
"Beware of small expenses, a small leak will sink a great ship" is another Franklin maxim. He took it literally!
One of Franklin's innovative ideas was to divide a ship into watertight compartments so that if a leak occurred in one compartment, the water would not sink the ship!
Close "Does thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of," says Franklin. Indeed, he spent all his spare time reading, observing and doing.
Besides being creative with words, Franklin was also a great inventor of objects that must have seemed rather strange for his time. 
No matter what his age, Franklin kept inventing useful things.
Franklin's Inventions Improved His Own LifeAt 40, Franklin constantly switched between using his longsighted glasses and his shortsighted glasses. He got so tired of doing this that he cut the lenses of both glasses in half horizontally, and put half of each lens in a single frame. He had essentially invented the world's first bifocals.
Old age did not stop him from reaching the unreachable, literally! He simply invented the "long arm" to help him reach high places. The "long arm" was a long wooden pole with a grasping claw at the end of it.
CloseOutlandish inventor
Have you ever:
- Used a library stepstool to reach your favorite book?
- Enhanced your swimming abilities with a pair of swim fins?
- Produced notes on a glass "armonica"?
Franklin's Swim Fins Franklin loved to swim. When he was just a boy, he developed swim fins, two wooden pieces shaped like lily pads. Each had a hole through which to put his thumb.
With one in each hand, he paddled through the water. He said his swim fins reduced what he called a "laborious and fatiguing operation."
Close If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, Benjamin Franklin has played a part in improving your life.
All of Franklin's inventions have a long line of experiments behind them, some of them rather... outlandish! Like the lightning rod.
Eccentrically electric
His invention of the lightning rod was essentially the product of his interest in storms.
Franklin's Lightning RodSwitch on 'How Shocking!" and build an e-lightning rod.Close Franklin didn't "invent" electricity, but he did discover that lightning and electricity are the same.
After proving that lightning was electricity, Franklin understood its power, and its danger. To protect ships, buildings, and people, he invented the lightning rod, an iron rod about eight feet long to protect buildings and people from being struck by lightning.
Lightning rods worked by "drawing out the electrical fire from a cloud" and directing it to the ground and out of harm's way.
In 1755, at the age of 49, witnesses saw him chasing a tornado on horseback, repeatedly lashing out with a whip in an attempt to dissipate the storm!
His other experiments with lightning were no less eccentric! He knocked himself out twice—once in an effort to treat a paralyzed man with electric shock and another when attempting to kill a turkey by electric shock!
Benjamin Franklin had wonderful ideas that are still being used today...
