Hot Air Balloon Flight: A Historical Journey from 1783 to Present days
The journey of hot air balloons, which were invented in the century has a history. It all began with the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Étienne who pioneered these flying machines. In 1782 driven by Josephs intuition they experimented with a silk cube heated by fire. Successfully flew their air aerostat by the end of the year. Their creation was officially introduced to the world in June 1783 sparking interest and curiosity.
Word of this groundbreaking achievement reached King Louis XVI, who wanted to ensure its safety before allowing humans, on board. As a result he requested an animal transport test. On September 19 1783 at Versailles in Paris the Montgolfier brothers attached a basket containing a goose, a sheep and a rooster to their air balloon. Although there was a hiccup when the balloon tilted sideways after takeoff all the animals remained unharmed. This public experiment caught the attention of Pilâtre de Rozier—an aviation pioneer—who bravely volunteered to become the human to fly in an air balloon.
Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes took off from Château de la Muette in Paris on November 21 1783—marking a moment, in history.
They flew for 25 minutes reaching a height of 1,000 meters. Landed at Butte aux Cailles.
Interestingly there are records of a version of an air balloon dating back, to the early 17th century. Bartolomeu de Gusmão, who was a priest created a device that resembled an air balloon. Historical documents confirm that an unmanned flight using this hot air balloon took place in Lisbon on August 8 1709. It is possible that the invention was inspired by Kongming Lanterns, which were paper balloons used in China for signals.
Now lets explore how hot air balloons actually work. During that time period it was not yet understood what exactly caused these large balloons to float in the air and carry objects or even people. Initially the Montgolfier brothers believed that flight was possible due to a specific gas present in the smoke produced by combustion. However credit for understanding the principle behind air balloons ability to fly goes to Alessandro Volta. He proposed that it is simply the air within the balloon that causes it to rise. Based on Archimedes principle (which states that every body experiences a force to its own weight) he deduced that because hot air is less dense, than atmospheric air it allows hot air balloons to take flight.
A hot air balloon goes up in the sky in a manner until the temperature and density of the air inside are similar, to that of the surrounding air. This is because the density of atmospheric air changes as we go up. Basically when the air inside the balloon gets heated it expands until it reaches its capacity. At this point some of the expanded air starts to escape through the opening at the bottom. Once enough air has escaped equal, to the weight of the basket and its occupants then the balloon reaches a state of balance or equilibrium.
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