Taking the idea of the small Chinese lantern and expanding it to a machine that carries humans while suspended above the ground, was where the ‘Aerostat Reveillon’, commonly known as the ‘hot air balloon’, originated from. The hot air balloon is the oldest flying aircraft, the first unmanned launch dating back to August 8th, 1709. The hot air balloon has three essential parts: the wicker basket (for the balloons that carry people), the skirt, and the envelope. The skirt’s main purpose is to keep the envelope from igniting and to slow the release of air from the envelope, so buoyancy keeps it up. The envelope can be broken down further into panels, gores, and a parachute valve, all of those work parts of the envelope work together to ensure proper air inside of it. In order for a hot air balloon to take off and stay in the air, the air inside the envelope of the balloon must be less dense than the air surrounding it. The purpose of this project was to build a hot air balloon that encompasses the parts of the balloon and how to use the gas laws to launch a balloon. The goal was to make a balloon that goes the highest and stays up for the longest amount of time. The process was strenuous and had a lot of room for error.
The balloons that were the most successful tended to have a few things in common: they were made of less material, had simpler designs/themes, and were rounder than other balloons. Simpler designs lead to less material being used, which, in turn, produced better balloons. Simpler designs required less paper to be added to the exterior of the envelope, meaning it had less mass to it, resulting in longer suspension and easier take-off because of it being so light. Balloons that we rounder, teardrop-shaped flew for a longer time and higher than flat-topped hot air balloons. Because the purpose of a hot air balloon is to create one that reduces drag and does not generate lift, a teardrop shape will give the best result. Due to the round top of the classic hot air balloon shape, the air flows around the head smoothly, this is dire because if separation of the air occurs, it will cause a type of drag that will cause the air particles to push against it and slow it down. Because we were building out of tissue paper, a very light and delicate material, any force against its launching would have caused a great downfall. Not to say that balloons that lacked these characteristics did not fly or were not successful, but balloons that did have all these qualities were the most successful.
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As with successful hot air balloons, unsuccessful balloons also have common threads: they were small, flatter, and had too many decorations. Balloons with a smaller volume did not stay up as long, nor fly as high, and the reason is simple. There was not as much space to hold the hot air, due to the smaller quantity of hot air inside it was easier for the temperatures both in and outside the envelope to equalize. Because the air inside must be less dense than the air around it in order to fly, giving less time for the air to equalize by building a smaller envelope ensured less airtime. Flatter balloons did not perform as well as teardrop or rounder-shaped balloons because they disrupted airflow around them while rising, it does not allow the air to flow freely, thus causing the balloon to descend quicker and go up slower. Choosing designs that were more intricate led to more mass, the most decorations they had to accompany their theme added to the mass of it. For example, a teenage mutant ninja turtle balloon had more mass, between the envelope, headband, and black layer of the eye, than the white layer, it added up to be quite heavy. It may be big, and even though the air inside is less dense than the air inside, with the potential to fly, the density of the actual balloon was too great for it to take off.
The process of creating my hot air balloon was anything but traditional. We understood the task at hand and followed the directions, however just because you follow directions does not always mean it will come out the way it is intended to. The first change I would make to the balloon would be to attach the top cap on it, well, properly. We attached it without much thought, and it got the job done, however in the process we trapped some folds of our balloon underneath it, and it looked bad and to quote some, ‘ghetto’. Attaching it correctly may have increased our flight time because it was slightly pointed at the top, it may have messed with airflow. Another adjustment I would like to have made to our project was to attach the ring better. Once again, we knew what the objective was, to attach the ring, and there was some idea as to how to get it on securely, yet once more we did it our own way, and it resulted in a messy crumpled mess at the base of the balloon. For some odd reason, after gluing the paper around the ring and attaching it securely, we also put tape around it. It was completely unnecessary and I greatly regret it. The last thing I would have done differently would have been to figure out a way to store the balloon that did not create as many crinkles. The crinkles made it difficult to attach decoration to it and to perform other tasks concerning the envelope, where it was most crinkled. Despite these faults, our balloon stayed aloft for the longest time in our first hour class, it also landed on the roof of the B building, and it got the job done despite the flaws.
When the project was first given, I had to admit, I was stressed greatly about it. I expected it to be difficult, hard, and that we would cry at least twice over it. However, after researching the best way to approach it, tips on cutting and gluing, and knowing gas laws and why it flies, my confidence grew. We picked a simple design strategically so it would have less mass, it also required less time to build than ones with more complicated themes. This project was more enjoyable than I expected, a good class competition certainly never hurt anyone, and it certainly pushed my team to work harder. I personally believe that this is the best way to demonstrate gas laws. It forces us to dig deeper into the laws and apply them to create an object that flies and stays afloat. I knew close to nothing about hot air balloons or why they flew, and now I know more than I need to about them. This is one of those high school stories I will tell my family for a long time because the experience was so unique. The objective was to use our knowledge of gas laws, pressure, density, mass, and volume to create a balloon that stayed in the air the longest and flew the highest. Our balloon did both, and in the end, was the cutest and quite good.
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