The kite experiment was a scientific experiment which was proposed and may have been conducted by Benjamin Franklin with the assistance of his son William Franklin. The experiment's purpose was to uncover the unknown facts about the nature of lightning and electricity. == Background == In 1750, the electrical nature of lightning was the subject of public discussion in France, with a dissertation of Denis Barbaret receiving a prize in Bordeaux; Barbaret proposed a cause in line with the triboelectric effect. The physicist Jacques de Romas also wrote a memoir that year with similar ideas. Franklin...

A booby is a seabird in the genus Sula, part of the Sulidae family. Boobies are closely related to the gannets (Morus), which were formerly included in Sula. == Description == Boobies hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. Facial air sacs under their skin cushion the impact with the water. Boobies are colonial breeders on islands and coasts. They normally lay one or more chalky-blue eggs on the ground or sometimes in a tree nest. === Name === Their name was possibly based on the Spanish slang term bobo, meaning "stupid", as these tame birds had a habit...