Day 4- Franklin Institute

We spent the first half of the day at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.  One of the first things that you see when you walk in this giant statue of Benjamin Franklin himself.

You can see how large it is by the lady on the right who is walking by it.

Here at the Franklin Institute they have an AMAZING museum with tons of hands on activities for kids.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to go through all of it.  Instead, I was busy in a meeting where I was able to actually TOUCH some really cool objects that dealt with Franklin himself.

The first thing that I was able to see was an ORIGINAL book entitled, Experiment and Observations on Electricity.  Hmmm....does that sound familiar at all?? Well it should!  After Franklin retired from his printing business, he started working on his science. This of course is what many of us remember most about Franklin.

This was probably one of the coolest things that I got to hold and look through all day.  If you notice, it's an original publication from 1751. The curator there said that there were eventually five other publications but this was his first.  If you notice at the bottom the price is 2s. 6 d.  Any idea of what that means? Well it was 2 shillings and 6 pence for this book in 1751. Today...you would pay MUCH more for this precious book. :-)

Has anyone ever wondered WHY Benjamin Franklin was interested in electricity or how it all started?

Well... believe it or not his experiments all started from simple parlor games.  Static electricity was common parlor game and Franklin wanted to find out more.

This book earned Franklin the prestigious Copley Prize given by the Royal Society in London.  It made Franklin a super star of his time!!

I was also able to HOLD one of Franklin's original lightening rods that he used.

Notice how crooked and twisted it is!!

Another thing I was able to see was a Collinson Tube that was given to Franklin.

This was actually quite heavy to hold since it was made of glass.  What is a Collinson Tube? Well, you would rub a piece of cotton on the outside and create electrical charges on the inside.  You could then transfer or "pour" them into a lightening jar (notice the cork at the end) and it was essentially a primitive battery.  Even then, Franklin wanted to know how to use and SAVE electricity.  Pretty cool.

Another cool think that I got to see was one of Franklin's wills. (He wrote a few over his lifetime) This one was dated 1755 and if was entirely written in his hand.  Check out how pretty his signature was!!

                                  

















Last but NOT least, I got to hold Franklin's ceremonial sword that he took when he went to France.  It was BEAUTIFUL!! The sword wasn't meant as a weapon, but simply part of the dress he needed to wear at the French court.