HOT AIR BALLOON: HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, PARTS, HOW IT WORKS - PHYSICAL - 2025

A hot air balloon is an air craft that allows cargo and people to be lifted through the air and that works by the principle of buoyancy. It does not require wings or blades or motor to rise. It is enough that in a bag, balloon or balloon, a gas lighter than the surrounding air is enclosed.

This gas is usually hot air, since being lighter than the surrounding cold air allows it to ascend or float. Attached to the balloon is a basket or cabin where cargo and / or passengers are placed.

Hot air balloons. Source: pixabay

Generally, hot air balloons do not have any type of propellant, so the direction of flight is determined by the wind, although most hot air balloons have a system that allows you to control the height.

History of the hot air balloon

The credit for the invention of the hot air balloon belongs to the Montglofier brothers, Joseph - Michel and Jacques - Étienne, who showed it publicly on June 4, 1783 in France, although their first models had been made a year earlier.

Joseph and Etienne had dreamed of flying for a long time, but had not found a way.

Inspiration came when Joseph held his shirt by the neck in the hot air rising through the fireplace, and realized that this air could lift it. They understood that hot air is lighter than cold air and that is why it floats.

So the task to perform was to enclose that air in a bag large enough to lift a load. Obviously, the higher the load, the greater the volume of the bag that would contain the hot air.

In September 1782 they built a balloon with a capacity of one cubic meter that they filled with hot air that managed to rise up to thirty meters in height. By the month of December, they built one of greater capacity, three cubic meters, with which they continued their experiments.

In April 1783 they managed to raise a 10-meter diameter balloon to a height of 365 meters, with a volume of 850 cubic meters. In June of that same year they made a public demonstration of the invention.

The demonstration before King Louis XVI

The great demonstration occurred in September 1783 at Versailles, before the gaze of King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, the entire French court and an audience of 130,000 people, who were perplexed by the demonstration.

Aboard the balloon basket at Versailles in September 1783 were a rooster, a sheep, and a duck. A month later, the first human flight in a hot air balloon occurred.

The first man to soar through the skies with a hot air balloon was Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (October 1783). Sadly, two years later Jean-François and a companion died in a hot air balloon accident.

Another historical milestone occurs in 1792, when the hot air balloon is used for the first time for military purposes. The demonstration of the Royal Artillery College of Segovia was made in the presence of King Carlos IV of Spain.

In October 1797 André Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute jump from a hot air balloon flying through the Parisian skies.

characteristics

The main characteristic features of a hot air balloon are:

- It cannot be said that it is a flying artifact, rather it is a floating artifact.

- Adequate air flow conditions are necessary to guarantee buoyancy and safety.

- It has a strong and lightweight fabric wrap or balloon that fills with hot air.

- The air that fills the envelope is heated by gas burners.

- Cargo and crew go in a basket that hangs from the balloon and is made of lightweight materials.

Parts of the hot air balloon

The three main parts of a hot air balloon are:

- The envelope.

- The burners.

-The basket or basket.

The envelope or candle has a bulky or balloon shape, it is made of strips of light and waterproof fabric that are sewn to give the spherical shape.

Currently the fabrics and threads used to make the wrapping are made of nylon or polyester fiber, but it should be noted that these fibers did not exist when the first hot air balloons appeared. Nylon fiber was invented in 1938 and polyester in 1946. The wrapping of the first balloons was made from silk or paper.

The function of the candle or envelope is to store the hot air and guarantee the buoyancy of the hot air balloon. Despite the fact that the fabric is resistant, it is necessary to place reinforcing longitudinal and transverse tapes when making the sail.

The upper part of the sail has a flap or tear valve, known as a parachute, which is actuated by a rope that when pulled by the pilot allows hot air to escape so that lift or height can be controlled.

Burners and fuel

In the upper external part of the sail there are ropes that are attached to the end of the load belts and help in the inflation and deflation of the sail.

The burners are oriented so that the fire points towards the entrance or mouth of the casing.

The fuel used to heat the air and fill the envelope is propane. The propane tanks that serve to fill the air balloon at the beginning remain on the ground. On board there can be other smaller ones that we could call maintenance tanks.

The basket or basket of the hot air balloon is still made of wicker. Other lightweight and resistant materials have been tried, but wicker still has four main characteristics: it is cheap, light, resistant and absorbs the impacts of landing.

The floor of the basket is made of plywood and has steel cables that surround it vertically and longitudinally to be hooked on the reinforcement tapes of the candle and on the burner supports.

Modern equipment

Apart from this basic equipment, currently balloon crew members have some flight instruments such as:

- Altimeter.

- Thermometer.

- Compass.

- Fire extinguishers.

- GPS.

- Radio equipment.

Functioning

Before operating a balloon, all the preparations must be taken into account, including and not least choosing the right place to fly.

In this choice, it must be taken into account that the place does not have high voltage towers or cables, the direction and speed of the wind and towards which area the balloon will be directed.

To inflate the balloon or candle, it is placed on the ground and filled with hot air using a fan. The detailed inflation process is as follows:

- The sail is stretched by unfolding it horizontally by using the load tapes on both sides of it. This operation requires a minimum of two people.

Inflating hot air balloon. Source: pixabay

- It is very important to verify that the closures or Velcro fasteners of the parachute or crown valve are sealed so that hot air does not escape during the filling of the balloon.

- The candle is filled with the help of fans that, if they are powerful enough, inflate the balloon. Then the burners are lit to introduce more hot air to complete the filling of the candle.

- With the candle wide open and supported by at least two people, the burners are directed towards the inside of the balloon and ignited for short intervals until the balloon rises and tightens the cables and ropes that hold it to the basket. The basket must be anchored to the ground to avoid unwanted lifting.

- Once filled with hot air, the candle rises, indicating that the balloon is ready for use. The balloon must be secured to the ground to prevent it from rising uncontrollably.

How to maneuver the balloon?

When loosening the ties, the balloon goes up. Its direction is determined by air currents. But at different heights, these currents can have different directions, so by controlling the height it is also possible to choose the direction of flight.

When you want to ascend or you want to maintain the height, the burners are activated, but to descend they are deactivated in such a way that the air inside the balloon cools and becomes heavier, so it begins to descend.

If it is observed that the descent is very fast, the burners must be activated again to reduce the descent speed.

It is very important that once the basket touches the ground, the passengers remain in the basket until it is completely tied to the ground. Otherwise the balloon may start to rise again and cause an unwanted mishap.

Types of hot air balloons

Hot air balloons can be classified into several types depending on their characteristics, such as whether they have some type of steering system.

-Non-airship hot air balloons

They lack a propulsion system, so their displacement in distance and direction is determined by atmospheric air currents.

These have a large bag or candle that retains the air that heats a burner located in the lower inlet or mouth of the candle, which directs the hot air towards its interior.

In this type of balloon the crew and passengers go in a basket that is attached to the sail by cables and straps.

The maneuvers are limited to controlling the ascent and descent. However, at different heights the air currents can point in different directions, which gives these types of hot air balloons a certain margin of directionality.

-Airostatic airships airships

Sometimes they are known by the name of airships or in German zeppelin. The main characteristic is that they have a propeller motor that allows them to decide and maintain the direction of flight even against the wind.

In general, the balloon or candle is closed and is filled with a gas lighter than air, such as hydrogen or helium. Hydrogen is highly flammable, while helium, being a noble gas, does not have the risk of catching fire or exploding. In airships, the height of the balloon is relatively constant.

-Mixed hot air balloons

They are those that have a portion of light gas, such as helium, enclosed in balloons that lighten the total weight, but also have the candle that is filled with hot air from the burners. They may or may not have a propulsion system.

-Manned and unmanned balloons

Another possible classification of balloons is whether they have crew members or not.

Unmanned hot air balloons

They are generally used for advertising purposes at trade shows and other events. They stay tied at a constant height. These types of balloons use gas instead of hot air.

Among the unmanned balloons are the meteorological balloons, which are constantly ascending and send data to the ground through radio signals. These data are height, temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure and other data of interest.

Manned hot air balloons

They require a crew member and are generally hot air. This type of balloon is used by fans of flight, but it can also have commercial and tourist purposes. There are also competitions in which starting and finishing points are established and the ability of the crew to achieve the proposed goals is evaluated.

How to make a homemade hot air balloon

Here are the basic steps to building a homemade hot air balloon that actually soars.

This type of balloon is also marketed under the name of wish balloons, because a wish is usually made when it rises.

materials

- A large bag of those used for garbage, looking for it to be made of thin plastic, not the ultra strong ones that are made of thicker plastic.

- A pair of thin but stiff wires. The wire used in construction can be used. The wires of the clothes hangers are very thick and heavy (not suitable for the experiment)

- Thin copper wire or those used for flower arrangements.

- A cotton ball or toilet or toilet paper.

- Alcohol to burn.

- An alcohol lighter.

- Four pieces of duct tape.

Process

- Open the bag, so that measurements of the open mouth of the bag can be taken.

- Once we have the measurements we cut two wires that will be joined to form a cross, whose purpose is to keep the lower end of the bag wide open. The ends of these wires should be bent in an L length of approximately 1 cm.

- To join the cross we use the thin copper wire. Also at the intersection of the two wires we fix the cotton ball or toilet paper that we impregnate with burning alcohol.

- We fix the cross to the open end of the bag so that it is wide open.

- Then we hold the bag at the top so that it takes the shape of a balloon.

- To heat the air inside the bag, at the beginning an alcohol burner is placed on the ground, which will cause the hot air to enter the bag and displace the cold air.

- When it is observed that the bag is well inflated, the cotton or paper ball at the base in the shape of a cross is turned on and the balloon is released as soon as we realize that it wants to rise.

References

1. Briceño, G. Hot air balloon. Recovered from: euston96.com
2. How to make a homemade hot air balloon. Recovered from: Espaciociencia.com.
3. Description of a balloon. Recovered from: ballooning.es
4. The hot air balloon flight. Recovered from: pasionporvolar.com
5. Wikipedia. Hot air balloon. Recovered from: wikipedia.com/es