The Flying Boy Experiment

An old diagram showing an electrical experiment where one person rotates a small glass globe near the feet of a boy who is lying prone, suspended from the ceiling by ropes. The boy holds the hand of a girl who is standing on some sort of insulator, passing his charge to her, and she, in turn, attracts small bits of material to her hand.
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An old diagram showing an electrical experiment where one person rotates a small glass globe near the feet of a boy who is lying prone, suspended from the ceiling by ropes. The boy holds the hand of a girl who is standing on some sort of insulator, passing his charge to her, and she, in turn, attracts small bits of material to her hand.
In the 1740s, Stephen Gray, a scientist in London, was conducting a number of basic experiments to figure out the behavior and properties of electricity. One of these became famous as "The Flying Boy" experiment. Gray suspended a young boy from the ceiling, using silk ropes, yarn, or other materials. The boys feet were placed near a glass globe that was being rotated and rubbed, creating a static charge. The suspended boy then carried a charge as well, and was able to attract light materials to his face and fingertips, like paper or feathers. And if the boy reached out to touch someone else, they got a sharp jolt, saw a tiny spark, and heard a little crackle — and anything attracted to his skin would suddenly drop away.

I just love that 'a suspended young boy' became a pivotal part of the apparatus, and helped further our understanding of electricity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...

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