Re: Tiger Scout

Posted by Steve Hitch on 5/17/05

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I agree, neither invented nor discovered electricity. My point
was that dressing as Thomas Edison and acting as Ben Franklin
would leave a twisted historical impression on the kids. Just my
own pet peeve here, but most adults even have misattributions for
major inventions and discoveries in history. The peeve comes into
play when I see teachers making those wrong impressions. Anyone
here is free to consider me harsh in this view, but how many can
tell us what Antonio Meucci contributed to society, what Henry
Ford really did that was revolutionary, and what Alexander Graham
Bell actually did?

On Edison and Franklin:

Franklin was an inventor, but not with electricity. He did make
useful discoveries therein though. I suspect Franklin's kite
story was either fictional, or blown out of proportion. It
certainly would demonstate conductivity, although the experiment
itself would almost surely fail. The key is not a significant
conductor (unless the lightning was quite near the key already),
and a wet kite string is barely more conductive than the rain
itself. The lightning rod, yes, quite good.

Edison is still the most prolific US inventor (according to patent
count) today. He had a great knack for envisioning inventions
based on the discoveries of his own labs and others. Quite often,
his inventions were the "best of breed", meaning he worked on the
same things others worked on, but his were usually the most
elegant solutions.

What Franklin and Edison had in common, really, was that they were
both well learned across many disciplines, and knew how to apply
that knowledge in (usually) practical ways.

On 5/17/05, Den Mom wrote:
> Why be hostile, aren't we all here to benefit society? You may
> find this timeline of electricity link helpful:
> http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/3/physics/electric/
>
> While you are both correct, in one form or another,
> neither "discovered" electricity. However, Thomas Edison DID
> turn an invention into something that was useful.
>
> Play nice.

Posts on this thread, including this one

• Tiger Scout, 10/15/04, by Leader.
• Re: Tiger Scout, 4/14/05, by Steve Hitch.
• Re: Tiger Scout, 5/17/05, by Den Mom.
• Re: Tiger Scout, 5/17/05, by Steve Hitch.