Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

The electric nature of lightning was established by, which scientist?

seo-qna
SearchIcon
Answer
VerifiedVerified
444.6k+ views
Hint:Benjamin Franklin, one of the first scientists to propose daylight saving's time as a measure to save energy.

Complete step by step Solution:
Benjamin Franklin’s idea allowed attracting lightning bolts to points that were not dangerous. Humanity stopped being afraid of storms.

Franklin's passion for electricity research prompted him to focus on an event that many had not noticed before. One day, he was flying a kite when he was struck by lightning which ignited him, making the average researcher wonder if it was possible to attract lightning strikes in any way.

Additional information:
Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. Most lightning occurs within the clouds.
"Sheet lightning" describes a distant bolt that lights up an entire cloud base. Other visible bolts may appear as bead, ribbon, or rocket lightning.
During a storm, colliding particles of rain, ice, or snow inside storm clouds increase the imbalance between storm clouds and the ground, and often negatively charge the lower reaches of storm clouds. Objects on the ground, like steeples, trees, and the Earth itself, become positively charged—creating an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy by passing current between the two charges.

Note: Electricity is a form of energy and it occurs in nature, so it was not “invented.” As to who discovered it, many misconceptions abound. Some give credit to Benjamin Franklin for discovering electricity, but his experiments only helped establish the connection between lightning and electricity, nothing more.