SAT Example (Short Reading Comprehension)

On a stormy June day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin carried out the famous experiment in which he channeled lightning down a kite string and stored the electric charge in a Leyden jar, the precursor to the modern capacitor. The consequences could not have been more pronounced.

Franklin proved that electricity was a force of nature, like Newton's gravity, and the subsequent invention of the lightning rod (based on Franklin's theories) sharply reduced risk of fire to tall buildings. Franklin's experiment had cultural repercussions as well. It showed that scientific research could have practical benefits, and it impugned the superstitious belief ─widespread at the time─ that lightning resulted from divine displeasure.