Ben+Franklin


 * __Ben Franklin__**

Simone & Josh's Part: http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312848/bfranklin.htm = Ben Franklin had many jobs during his lifetime. He was a politician, writer, musician, scientist and an inventor. He was also a great leader in American Revolution. Bullet Points: =  Benjamin Franklin was born January 17, 1706  He died April 17, 1790  He had 17 children in his family when he was born.  He was the 10th son of a soap maker  He first worked with his brother in a newspaper at age 12  His brother went to jail so he had to run the newspaper by himself for awhile  He lived in Boston and then ran away to Philadelphia  He left for London after living with Deborah Read  In 1729, he bought the Pennsylvania Gazette  In 1733 he started Poor Richards Almanac  He is buried in the Cemetery of Christ’s Church  He married Deborah Read in the year 1730  He traveled many times to London as a representative of the colonies



__**Casey's Part**__ Benjamin Franklin's childhood.

**The ﻿  Franklin Family's Youngest Son ** Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. His family lived in Boston, Massachusetts. His father's name was Josiah and his mother's name was Abiah. Ben was their eighth child and they would later have two more. However, Josiah already had seven children from his first marriage. So, Ben knew a lot about growing up in a BIG family! He had nine brothers and seven sisters! [] "Benjamin Franklin Biography - Benjamin Franklin Childhood, Founding Fathers of the USA Benjamin Franklin Profile." //Lifestyle Lounge - Online Lifestyle Magazine - Lifestyle Management Tips//. iloveindia.com, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2010.

[] "Quick Biography of Benjamin Franklin." //ushistory.org//. The IHA, 4 July 1995. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. .

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"Ben's Guide: Benjamin Franklin." //Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids//. N.p., 17 Feb. 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. .

Alyse’s Part

The Invention of Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin is famous for many things, but one of his most famous inventions is the lightning rod. The lightning rod was invented in 1752. He first came upon electricity in 1746 when he started hearing about other scientists’ electrical experiments. It took him six years before he got the complete lightning rod done. The idea of the lightning rod came from an experiment that he was doing involving electricity. He had a metal key attached to a kite to attract the electrical charge. After doing this he had a string that he tied to the kite. He had an insulating silk ribbon for the knuckles of his hand in which he tied the kite string to. Lightning hit the kite, kite string, and key. The key received an electrical charge from the air. Ben Franklin knew after this experiment that lightning was a form of electricity, which led to his idea of the lightning rod. One of Ben’s problems that he faced was that before he could invent the lightning rod he had to prove that lightning was electricity. After he performed his kite, string, and key experiment it was proven that lightning was electricity. His invention impacted society both positively and negatively. It impacted the society positively, because even today the lightning rod is still used to prevent lightning from starting fires in buildings, ships, and many other things. One of the negative impacts it had on society was that when the first lightning rods were invented there was a blunt and a sharp tipped lightning rod. The King of England had a blunt tipped lightning rod on his palace, and when it came time for the colonists to choose what they wanted they chose the sharp tipped lightning rod. This angered the King, and in the eyes of the English was just another way for the colonists to rebel and be disobedient to them. [] "Inventor." //Benjamin Franklin and His Inventions//. The Franklin Institute/unisys, 1994. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. . There is no author for this website, so there are no credentials of the author. The information on this website is mostly current. They have a braindrop (article) dated for today which makes it current, but it doesn't have when the article I used for my report was last updated. The purpose of this website is to inform and teach about Ben Franklin.The website was easy to read, and I could read it quickly. This website contained a little information that helped me write about Ben Franklin. The website provided links to other sources with additional information. Two of them that they gave were Unisys and The Science Leadership Academy(SLA). This website contained information about Ben Franklin, experiments teachers can do in class to help kids learn about things that Ben did, videos, and quizzes. I used this site because of the the information given and the picture on the page. This website helped me find information about Ben Franklin and the lightning rod.

[] Bellis, Mary. "The Inventions and Scientific Achievements of Benjamin Franklin." //Benjamin Franklin-LIghtning Rod//. About.com. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. . There are no credentials for Mary Bellis, the author. It does not say how current the information is, but the information is copyrighted to 2010, which makes it somewhat current.The purpose of the website was to inform people about Ben and his inventions.The information on the website was understandable and I could comprehend it well. The website conatined some valuable information about the lightning rod and Ben Franklin, but not a lot. The website provided many links to other sources with additional information that I could have used. The website contained information about some of Ben's inventions and a brief description of each. I used this site because it had many pictures and had a brief summary of Ben and the lightning rod. This website helped me verify what the lightning rod did and when Ben did his famous kite and key experiment.

[] Ament, Phil. "Fascinating Facts about the Invention of the Lightning Rod by Benjamin Franklin in 1752." //Lightning Rod History- Invention of the Lightning Rod//. The Great Idea Finder, Jan. 2005. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. []. The author has no credentials listed on the website. The website is not current, because it was last updated on January 2005. The purpose of the website is to inform the reader about Ben Franklin and his invention of the lightning rod. I thought the website was easy to comprehend and thought that the paragraph format helped. The website contained a lot of information about the lightning rod and Ben Franklin. The website also included links to many other useful sources. The website contained information about Ben Franklin and how he got from an idea to the lightning rod. I used this site because it had a lot of good and organized information. This website helped me find what Ben did in the kite and key experiment and it also verified what year the lightning rod was invented.