A2,+Colley,+Leah,+Benjamin+Franklin

**//__Benjamin Franklin: Scientist__//** = One of the first people to chart the gulf stream, taking measurements eight times during his journeys across the Atlantic.Named the Gulf Stream. = Observed that storms in the northeast originated in the southwest, and believed that storms could be charted and predicted. Realized that stoms do not always travel in the direction of their prevailing winds. Learned as much as he could about weather. = born January 17th 1706, died April 17th 1790 = Inventions: lightning rod(Pointed piece of a conductor placed on a roof with a wire going to the ground that attracts the lightning to it and safely discharges it rather than the lightning starting a fire on the building), Franklin stove, bifocal glasses = Proved lightning was a form of electricity = First to realize all electricity is the same substance, names the two types positive and negative. First to discover the principal of conservation of charge.(Electric charge can be neither created nor destroyed) = Franklin and his friend studied the concept of cooling by evaporation

__Storms__ While observing storms, Ben Franklin noticed something odd. Storms never seemed to travel in the sirection of their prevailing winds, and often whent the opposite direction. He also observed that storms that originated in the southwest traveled northeast, and through this, he believed that storms could be tracked and predicted. __Gulf Stream__ Due to his extensive transatlantic travel because of his political role, Ben Franklin spent lots of time on and around the Atlantic Ocean. During his extensive travels, he was aware of a current that ran up the North American coast. Franklin, though not the first to know about it,was the first to map the Gulf Stream, and was the one to name it. __Lightning Rod__ Franklin realized that many fires were caused by lightning striking houses. During his studdies of electricity, Franklin learned that lightning is attracted to metal, especially sharp metal, and by placing a rod of sharp petal atop a house ad having the rod lead into the ground, it is possible to redirect lightning and have the energy be safely dischared, leaving the house or building unharmed.

__Bifocals__ Benjamin Franklin suffered from poor vision. Consiquenntly, he had to wear glasses. When reading, Franklin used one pair of glasses, but when he stopped and had to see while doing other activities, he had to switch glasses. Eventually, Franklin got fed up with switching his glasses, so he took apart his glasses and cut each lense in half. He set the bottom half of the glasses as the reading portion, as when reading, we glance downward. The top half of the lense was fo normal activity, as we usually look strait or up. __Electricity__ Ben Franklin's best known area of scientific study is that of electricity. Though he did not "domesticate" electricity, Franklin proved some very important concepts that are building blocks for our modern understanding. In the 18th century, scientists believed that static electricity and the electricity from lightning were two different things alltogether. Through experimentation, including his famous kite and key, Franklin proved that static and atmospheric electricity were indeed the same thing. Another important concept discovered by Franklin is that of the two different charges in electricity. Until Franklin, electricity was thought to be all the same. By experimenting with different materials and static electricity, Franklin was able to identify two distinct types; negatively charged and posetively charged. The most significant discovery about electricity made by Franklin is that of reletivity. Franklin discovered that electricity can be neither created nor destroyed, and this observation opened the door to all kinds of posebilities, and helped lead to ideas about matter. __Franklin Stove__ Ben Franklin was a man very involved with the subject of domestic fires. He helped set up Philidalphea's first fire department and founded the first ever fire insurance company. His invention, the franklin stove, had a huge impact on the efficiency and safety of fire in the home. The franklin stove is a fully enclosed metal fireplace with doors on the front and an airbox on the back. Until it's invention, homes had open and smokey fireplaces. The franklin stove was a huge improvement on this, heating a home 3 times more efficiently, stoppinging most of the smoke and ash from going around the house, and was safer and less hazardous than the traditional fireplace. Franklin was so dedicated to his plan for fire safety that he refused to patent the franklin stove so it could be widely available to the public. __Sources__ []

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