Ben Franklin Flies Kite Into History, Though He Wasn’t The First June 10, 2010

Franklin Developed the Declaration of Independence with Adams and Jefferson

On This Date in History: Benjamin Franklin was remarkable.  He invented the pot-bellied stove that bears his name, bifocal glasses and a number of other items. He was a successful printer and, of course, statesman.  He was the first Postmaster General of America, contributed to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as well as a diplomat throughout the American Revolution.  While he is considered a key member of America’s founding fathers, his scientific endeavors have left him with a legacy of one of the great experimental scientists of the 18th Century.  Franklin is  largely credited with proving that lightning was electrical in nature.   Now, he first proposed an experiment in which he would attach a long iron rod to a box and then place the box and rod atop a bell tower or something else tall. He then would have a man in the box holding on to the rod.  If the person thought it was too dangerous, then he could hold on to a wax handle attached to a wire that was attached to the rod.   Franklin never tried his experiment with the rod sticking 20 or 30 feet above his box.  But a few other people in Europe did.  Swedish physicist G. W. Richmann met an untimely death in Russia in 1753 trying the experiment out. 

Young Printer Ben

On this date in 1752, Franklin attempted his other great idea and that was with the kite.  Keep in mind, that some accounts have different dates.   He thought it was more practical than his previous proposition because it would extend higher in the sky and was a mobile experiment.  He could go to the storm instead of the storm coming to him.  He attached a key on the string and when the lightning hit the kite, he received a shock. See, electricity had already been discovered and lightning was hypothesized to be electrical based on observation but Franklin wanted to prove it.  Some claim that Ben had an early capacitor, a Leyden Jar, attached that stored the charge.  Either way, Franklin generally gets credit for proving that lightning was electrical and he lived to tell about it.  But….there was this French guy…Thomas-Francois D’Alibard… tried Franklin’s proposed experiment in May 1752 near Paris.  Apparently, Franklin had published an outline of the experiment that he proposed.  D’Alibard attempted the experiment before Franklin had an opportunity to do so and it worked.  The Frenchman lived to tell about it and he did so.  But,  no one seems to remember D’Alibard.  I can’t even find a picture or painting of D’Alibard.   Perhaps he didn’t shout it loud enough or maybe  it was due to the fact that  it was Franklin’s idea and Franklin’s published experiment.  In any event, Ben gets the credit.  In this account, the author says that Dr. Franklin never recorded the events of his kite flying experiment but instead apparently dictated the account to Joseph Priestley who published the story of the event 15 years after the experiment.  In this account, Priestley says that Franklin touched his knuckle to the key to confirm the presence of electricity.  Interestingly, Priestley also seems to confirm that, not only did the Frenchmen conduct the experiment a month before, but that Franklin was aware of the claim but not before he made his own experiment.   

Schematic of Franklin's Lightning Bells

 Franklin went on to invent the lightning rod to protect homes from the electricity he proved.  He also  coined the terms still in use today that are related to electricity:   battery, conductor, condenser, charge, discharge, uncharged, negative, minus, plus, electric shock, and electrician.   Dr. Franklin followed up his kite experiment with another device he called lightning bells.   In September 1752, he took an iron rod to draw electricity down to his house during a thunderstorm so he could conduct more experiments.  It was attached to bells and when the bells rung, then he knew it was electrified.  Much to his surprise, Franklin found that the bells would ring when there was no lightning or thunder present but instead just a dark cloud.  Other times the bells would stop ringing after he observed the flash of lightning. 

Why this French guy or Franklin wasn’t killed is more of a miracle than anything else. They had no idea that the temperature lightning can be as high as  50,000 degrees F and have millions of volts and tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of Amps.  It is has been speculated that, in cases in which people have been hit by a full stroke of lightning, they are vaporized.  My guess is that in both cases, the two of them captured but a small portion of the actual lightning strike and therefore only received a small shock.  Otherwise, Ben might not have made it on the $100 bill or been around to help found the nation.

Franklin's observer was his son, who was a full grown man at the time

If you look at the picture above….there is another person.  In many paintings, there is this unidentified person with Franklin.  I had heard years ago that really an African American slave held the key and was killed, which explains why Franklin didn’t die.  But, that seems very unlikely since Franklin was a Quaker and was against slavery wholeheartedly.  Instead, the other person portrayed is that of Franklin’ s son.  Ben didn’t  like to advertise his experiements because, when something went wrong, he would be subject to ridicule from the public.  So, the only person he told about his conducting the kite experiment was his son, who was in his early 20′s at the time.  In some paintings, the extra person is a young boy as some artists assumed that, if Franklin’s son was present, he must have been a young boy and not a full grown man.  There is another error in the painting.  Franklin was under a shed or some other awning for protection from the rain.  He wasn’t standing out in a thunderstorm.   

It Was Hector Heathcote!

 I like another explanation as to why Franklin wasn’t killed.  There was a cartoon with a guy named Hector Heathcote who always was involved in historical events. In one episode, Franklin was flying his kite and he handed it to Heathcote for a moment. At that moment, lightning struck and Heathcote was electricuted!  I say it was Hector Heathcote that discovered electricity!  Yes indeed.  American television cartoons uncovered the mystery and you heard it here first.  Perhaps Hector should be on the $100 bill.

SPC Severe Weather Outlook Saturday

Weather Bottom Line:  It’s going to be pretty warm on Thursday and early Friday, we have a warm front moving north.  What that will do is open us up to a southerly flow and an increase in moisture.  So, with temperatures pushing toward 90 and increased instability brought about with higher moisture, we could see some afternoon thunderstorms on a scattered basis.  Saturday, we have a cold front coming down into the moisture  rich environment.  In addition to the lifting feature of this front, there will no doubt be some waves of energy wandering along the front.  Hence, Saturday there will be the prospects of some strong storms in the area.   At one time, the front was progged to come through and cool things off but now, it would seem unlikely as the long wave flow is such that the boundary will most likely simply stay to our north and slip by to the east.  With that scenario, we will continue dancing with 90 for the foreseeable future.

Always Alert, Samuel Morse’s Success Came From Unlikely Origin May 24, 2010

Finding Success can be an Enigma...ask William Tell

I guess Morse Ended Up Finishing His Lafayette Painting

On This Date in History: In 1810, a young man graduated from Yale and immediately went to England to study art. He created a giant painting and a small sculpture and called them both “the Dying Hercules.” These were his most significant works and I suppose that he figured that was the best he could do and so he came home to America. He decided to paint portraits for a living. He had some works that were considered outstanding including one of Lafayette and other historical figures that were recognized for the extreme detail. Among his portraits of famous people was one of Eli Whitney. The young man gained a pretty big reputation but also was known as a man with a small income. That makes me think that if he was such a big painter, then maybe he would figure out that he needed to charge more for his paintings. I guess perhaps his reputation was good at the price he charged. Had he charged more, then maybe he wouldn’t have been so popular. Well, its a good thing for him, and for the rest of the world, that he had other pursuits to relieve his creative mind.

Signal Flags Were Still Used in Spanish American War When Other Communications Were Not Practical

The word “telegraph” derives from the Greek word, “to write far.” Pretty good description. Before there was electricity, there was a communication system that fit that description. It was in the form of tall poles that put up different arms and other signals. It could be seen at a distance. It was used during the Battle of Waterloo to let the folks know back in London what was going on with the struggle against Napoleon. I suppose that has its use but for long distances, you probably would need a series of big poles with a guy hanging around each one and waiting for a signal to be seen from one direction so he could then relay it to someone in the other direction. I suppose it was better than nothing and probably faster than relying on a guy on a horse, like Paul Revere…though Paul was pretty fast and he could travel at night, which obviously was a limitation for this early form of “telegraph.”

1844 First Telegraph Receiver

So, along comes electricity. Now, a bunch of inventors had figured out the basic principals involved but it was left to the somewhat successful American painter, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, to understand the practical application of those principals and the first to take pragmatic steps to invent a way to take exploit those principals. While at Yale, Morse had taken a keen interest in electricity but was lured by his love for art. He studied under Benjamin West and Washington Allston, who were considered two of the better painters of the day. He got married in 1818 but, while he was working on his painting of the Marquis de Lafayette, he got news his wife died. He left the painting unfinished and became an artistic recluse in his grief. But an odd thing happened, in his grief, he rediscovered his interest in electricity. He attended some lectures of academics but eventually returned to art.

William Cullen Bryant by Morse

In 1829, he went back to Europe to study art.  Had he not done that, he may never had received the inspiration of the telegraph. You see…in 1832 he was on board a ship returning to America when he came upon some scientists who were discussing the properties of electricity. One man queried whether electricity lost its velocity over a long distance. When another remarked that in Ben Franklin’s experiments, he had noted that a captured electrical current traveled over several miles of wire without any time differential as the reaction at the end of the wire seemed to be coincidental with the intialization of the current. That statement triggered the small spark of inspiration in Sam Morse’s head.

Old Sam Looks Like a Decorated Warrior

That left Morse with a tough choice. If he wanted to immerse himself in electricity, then he had to give up painting but, with no painting, he had no income. He was already rather poor, often skipping meals for extended periods or depending on the help from friends. In 1835, he was granted a teaching position in the Art Department of the State University of New York. That gave him access to the facilities and faculty at the University and afforded him the opportunity to expand his electrical research. With the help of a colleague, he made numerous successful experiments and developed a code of communication, known today as the Morse Code. In 1842, Morse went to Washington to build a telegraph line. In early 1843, he convinced Congress to grant him $30,000 to build a line from Washington to Baltimore. And finally, on this date in 1843, Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrated his telegraph to the world. His friend, Miss Ellsworth, came up with the first words to be transmitted. It was “What Hath God Wrought?” Indeed…what? It was the beginning of the information age that eventually progressed from communications by telegraph to radio to television and now the internet. All because a painter became heartbroken by his wife’s death and because he had run off to Europe as part of his grief.

I suppose, this might be an example of “don’t give up.” Difficult situations today might make you say “why me?” or make you angry. But, it could be that circumstance that proves necessary for your later success and happiness.

Weather Bottom Line:  Everything is going right along as scheduled.  However, it got a bit warmer sooner than I expected. Snow White and I were out and about on Sunday afternoon.  Even though we officially hit 90, I think just about everyone was in the mid to upper 80′s since no one lives at the airport where they decided a few years ago to keep the official records.  Necessarily, that means that the temperatures will be hotter.  It’s going to be very difficult for Louisville to break all time low temperature records.  Anyway, my thinking was that there would be so much humidity that it would be difficult to get to 90 this week and I still think that is the case.  But…whatever.  Its going to be pretty warm and humid.  Having said that, isolated afternoon t’showers will be possible..the exception not the rule. One way you can tell if they are going to be an issue if, at noon time you see any towering cumulus clouds. If you do, then there is a good bet that there will be storms in the afternoon.  If not…if you just see puffy cumulus or ones that are kinda flattened out, that would suggest that there is somewhat of a cap and that storms aren’t likely.  Now, at the end of the week, there is a frontal boundary that will be approaching that may bring a better chance for general rain and t’storm activity. 

This is What the actual satellite photo of the Atlantic and the disturbance looked like on May 24 2010

As mentioned yesterday, there is a little system north of the Bahamas.  I’ve seen it show up on the models for several days.  Generally they only take it to 1004 mb and keeps it meandering offshore of the SE US before it scoots away.  I found several news outlets though that, last Friday, claimed that we could have a tropical storm over the weekend.  The Palm Beach Post said “…there’s a chance the first storm of the season will form this weekend.”  That was such nonsense except that 1% chance I suppose qualifies as a “chance.”  There was nothing to suggest that.  Even the guy from the local NWS office didn’t say that. They just made it up. And they weren’t alone.  It’s headline writers and producers in news rooms that often give meteorologists a bad name because they write things that are not accurate. 

This is the photo the TV station uses in association with a story that says absolutely nothing about a tropical storm, tropical depression or hurricane. You decide using this old photo is a responsible act.

Now, WXJT in Jacksonville has one of several headlines put out by various media outlets today that are just as far off base.   They show a picture of a very mature and completely developed hurricane, which who knows when that was taken, but its not this one and they know it but a casual reader may not.  All they see is the photo and a headline that reads,  “Tropical System Brewing in Atlantic?”  If the TV station bothered to read the first sentence of the special statement put out by the National Hurricane Center (found below) it says “…the non-tropical low pressure system….”  That should answer their question mark. They suggest that there is less than a one in three chance for it to acquire subtropical characteristics in the next few days… nothing about tropical.  Now, last night, I found one model run that wanted to run this guy off the Virginia coast and then deepen it quickly to about 984mb as it ran up  just offshore the Northeast and New England coast.  Seemed a bit odd and now that abherration is no where to be found.  Every model that i looked at today still has a 1004-1008 mb low wandering about for a few days off the South Carolina and Georgia Coast before it moves northeast.  From the satellite picture,even an untrained eye like a news producer can see it looks nothing like a tropical cyclone.  Is it possible for it to acquire those characteristics?  Yes. Probable? NO.  And it would have to become a fully developed major tropical cyclone to affect the oil slick operations in the Gulf, and that seems very unlikely…though I suppose the headline writers might say there’s a chance if I said it was .00025% chance.  They like to scare people so they will buy the news paper, read their webpage or watch their news.  Don’t worry about it.  Having said all of that, I have seen in the past where an early storm of dubious distinction was given a name with the “subtropical” modifier. I have speculated that if there is an excuse for a name, they find it early on just to make people more aware of the season’s start.  I have no proof but, I have sometimes wondered if a couple of storms have actually met the criteria and qualified for a name.  So, I won’t be surprised to see a name, deservedly or not…but either way…..there is no indication at all that it will be anything but a moot point.

1. SATELLITE IMAGES AND SURFACE OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT THE
NON-TROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CENTERED ABOUT 475 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF BERMUDA HAS NOT BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED SINCE YESTERDAY.  THIS
SYSTEM IS PRODUCING A LARGE AREA OF DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN ALONG WITH WINDS
TO GALE FORCE.  THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SLOWLY TOWARD THE
NORTH-NORTHWEST AND IT STILL HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ACQUIRE
SUBTROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO.  THERE IS A
MEDIUM CHANCE…30 PERCENT… OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A SUBTROPICAL
CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.  FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION…
PLEASE SEE HIGH SEAS FORECASTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE…UNDER AWIPS HEADER NFDHSFAT1 AND WMO HEADER FZNT01 KWBC.
ANOTHER STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER
THIS EVENING.

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FORECASTER PASCH/ROBERTS
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