避雷针是谁发明的(雷电是谁发明的)

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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I"m Steve Mirsky.

Besides helping to create the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin of course invented the lightning rod. Which sits atop buildings and protects them by attracting lightning strikes and conducting them to the ground.Rather thanthrough the structure. Which can cause fires or outright electrocutions.

But what"s better? A lightning rod with a round end or one that comes to a sharp point? According to the book Revolutionary Science, by Steve Jones at University College London, Franklin liked lightning rods to be, in Franklin"s own words, "made sharp as a Needle."