Hot Air Balloons

In 1782, one sheep, one duck, and a rooster became the first creatures to fly in a hot air balloon. They traveled a distance of two miles in eight minutes.

The original creator of the first hot air balloon is a matter of debate. The Nasca Indians of Peru may have used hot air balloons as an aid in creating their mysterious Nasca Line geoglyphs on the desert plateaus between 700 B.C. and 200 A.D.

Perhaps the first to use lighter than air technology were the Chinese. They used small, unmanned hot air balloons, known as Kongming Lanterns, around the 3rd century as military signaling devices. They soon became a tradition at Chinese festivals.

In an 18th century issue of the 'La Gaceta de Mexico' newspaper, there was an article that referred back 1667, stating that “a citizen from Las Mendarios del Perro, Veracruz broke his leg in a fall after ascending in a strange device with fire.”

According to the Portugese, Batholomeu Laurenco de Gasmao demonstrated a small working balloon model on August 3, 1709. The Portugese king, John V, awarded de Gasmao the title of Professor of Mathemetics for his efforts.

However, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier are most often credited with the invention of the hot air balloon.

Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier were paper mill owners that lived in France.

One day, Joseph was watching his fire and noticed that the sparks, smoke, and ash floated up in the air.

Joseph began to wonder what “force” caused this and decided that the heat and smoke from the flame had a special lifting quality. He and his brother created a silk bag (balon), held it above the fire, and observed the bag expand and lift into the air.

The brothers believed that the burning created a gas which had not been identified, so they called it "Montgolfier gas". Today, we know that the brothers’ belief that a new gas was created was a

The density of the air inside their balloon had changed. As heat energy made the air molecules inside the balloon less dense than the surrounding air, the balloon was able to float.

BUOYANT FORCE

GRAVITY

Next, the brothers created a large paper-lined silk balloon, called the Montgolfiere.

They demonstrated it on June 4, 1783, in France. Their balloon carried one sheep, one duck, and a rooster, and the Montgolfiere rose 6,562 feet into the air.

A Model of the Montgolfier Balloon, from the London Science Museum. Photo by: Mike Young

Four months later, on October 15, 1783, Pilatre de Rozier, a scientist, and Marquis d'Arlandes were the first human passengers on a Montgolfiere balloon.

On January 19, 1784, a huge Montgolfiere hot air balloon carried seven passengers to a height of 3,000 feet over the city of Lyons.

Regardless of who actually constructed the first hot air balloon, it took a combination of curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, determination, and perseverance to make it possible.

Now it is time for you to use your engineering skills. Are you ready to to plan, design, and construct a hot air balloon?

Parts of a hot air balloon:

http://www.eballoon.org/balloon/parts-of-the-balloon.html

Hot air balloon baskets come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. They are designed and constructed of very light materials.

The actual balloon is called The Envelope. It is constructed from long sections called gores, which extend from the base of the envelope to its crown and are made up of many smaller panels.

Hot air balloon envelopes are created in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Friendly hot air balloon construction advice from some experts:http://members.mrtc.com/anvk/balloonconstruction/balloonconstruction.html

Special shape balloons:

http://www.cameronballoons.co.uk/pdfs/Special_Shape_brochure.pdf