时差N小时 富兰克林靠风筝发现了电?(下)

（单词翻译）

What Ben actually did in his famous 1752 experiment was to cause some excess electrical charge near a storm cloud to ground out through his kite string–still an impressive demonstration¹, but a much less powerful prospect² than an actual lightning strike.

在1752年的这次著名实验中，富兰克林只是将暴风云附近的过量电荷通过风筝线引到地面上，虽然这比实际的雷击威力小很多，但此举仍然令人印象深刻。

Nor is it true that Franklin discovered electricity, as people tend to say.

事实上，富兰克林并不像人们所传的那样发现了电。

What he was trying to do was to demonstrate that lightning itself is simply a powerful electric discharge between the clouds and the earth. In this he was entirely³ correct.

他的行动就是要证明：闪电只是云与地球之间的一种强大的放电现象，在这一点上，他是完全正确的。

Now, did you know that two of the basic terms we use even today to describe electric charge were coined by Franklin? Next time.

如今，我们用来描述电荷的两个基本术语都是富兰克林创造的，你知道吗？且听下回分解。