Kite experiment

Benjamin Franklin, author and renowned statesman, was also an inventor and a scientist. Every schoolchild knows of Franklin s experiment with a kite and a key, demonstrating that lightning is electricity. Less well known is that his measurement of the extent to which oil spreads on water makes possible a simple estimate of molecular size and Avogadro s number. 

Cavendish was fascinated by such stories. He read also about Franklin s experiments with atmospheric electricity—how he had flown a kite in the summer of 1752 and felt the electric shock of the thunderstorm. This force must be a powerful weapon, thought Cavendish, for a year later Dr. Georg Rich-mann who tried the same experiment had been killed. Here was a potent instrument which the chemist might use to solve great mysteries. 

Goddard, Robert H. (1892-1945) A physicist, engineer, teacher, and inventor bom in Massachusetts, Goddard became interested in science as a child and experimented with kites, baboons, and... 

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