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How Ben Franklin's Experiment Really Went

This meme jokes about Benjamin Franklin's famous 1752 kite experiment that proved lightning is electrical. The top text sets up that contemporary scientists warned Franklin the experiment could kill him. The punchline is an edited screenshot from a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater style skateboarding game, showing Franklin as a playable character performing a grind trick while holding his kite, with a game achievement pop-up that reads "Electricity Unlocked" as a reward for the trick. The joke frames Franklin as a reckless, overconfident video game character who treats the life-threatening experiment as a trivial challenge to complete for a reward.
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Dialogue

Scientists in 1752: "This experiment could kill you."
Benjamin Franklin:

Text content

4,151 X 2
FS 50-50 + Franklin Grind!!!
© 100 - Electricity Unlocked
SCORE 0
NOLLIE

Overview

This meme jokes about Benjamin Franklin's famous 1752 kite experiment that proved lightning is electrical. The top text sets up that contemporary scientists warned Franklin the experiment could kill him. The punchline is an edited screenshot from a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater style skateboarding game, showing Franklin as a playable character performing a grind trick while holding his kite, with a game achievement pop-up that reads "Electricity Unlocked" as a reward for the trick. The joke frames Franklin as a reckless, overconfident video game character who treats the life-threatening experiment as a trivial challenge to complete for a reward.

Origin notes

The meme was originally posted to the r/Meme subreddit on Reddit, as stated in the provided source information. It is a modified edit of a screenshot from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater video game franchise, edited to insert a Benjamin Franklin character model and reference his historical kite experiment for comedic effect.

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