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A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it is most likely to strike the rod and be conducted to ground through a wire, rather than passing through the structure, where it could start a fire or ...
The lightning rod invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1752 suggested a way of avoiding the common problem of lightning causing damage to the wooden sailing ships of the period. In Britain, the Royal Navy chose a protection system with a chain draped into the sea from the top of the mast as a lightning conductor. This system proved unsatisfactory ...
The invention of the lightning rod was a significant breakthrough in the field of electrical engineering, and has saved countless buildings and lives from the destructive effects of lightning strikes. [4] The Franklin bells were named for Benjamin Franklin, an early adopter who used it during his experimentation with electricity.
English scientist Stephen Gray made the distinction between insulators and conductors. 1745: German physicist Ewald Georg von Kleist and Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek invented Leyden jars. 1752: American scientist Benjamin Franklin showed that lightning was electrical by flying a kite and explained how Leyden jars work. 1780
The famous kite experiment enabled the Philadelphia group to established what had been surmised by others, that lightning was identical to the mild charge of electricity produced by the friction of the electrostatic machine. Franklin invented the lightning rod, which goes down in history as the first practical electrical invention.
The conductor offers a certain resistance, akin to friction, to the displacement of electricity, and heat is developed in the conductor, proportional to the square of the current (as already stated herein), which current flows as long as the impelling electric force continues. This resistance may be likened to that met with by a ship as it ...
Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, an artistic rendition of Franklin's kite experiment painted by Benjamin West, c. 1816 The BEP engraved the vignette Franklin and Electricity (c. 1860) which was used on the $10 National Bank Note from the 1860s to 1890s.
However, Nichia appealed the award and the parties settled in 2005 for ¥840 million (≈US$8.1 million, less than 5% of the award amount), which was still the largest payment ever paid by a Japanese company to an employee for an invention, [19] [20] an amount only enough to cover legal expenses incurred by Nakamura. [21]