Miniature Hot Air Balloons and Archimedes's Principle of Buoyancy

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The history of hot air balloons starts in the Asia. Literary references in China date back to 180ce and cite Chu Ko Liang as the inventor of lighter than air flight (1). Early unmanned balloons were used in China as military signaling lanterns (2). Today ethnic Chinese communities celebrate the end of the Lunar New Year Holidays (3) by launching small hot air balloons ( known as Kung-Ming Lanterns ).

The first recorded mathematical description of buoyancy (and thus hot air balloon behavior) was developed by Archimedes over 2000 years ago in Greece (4). The bouncy force is summarized by Archimedes's principle , “the magnitude of the buoyant force is always equal the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.” (5)

The use of hot air balloons as vehicles for human transportation was developed by Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier (6). The first manned flight of a hot air balloon occurred on November 21, 1783 . The flight lasted less than a half hour and spanned a total distance of 7 miles (7) .

Hot air balloons float in the atmosphere for the same reason beach-balls float in the water. Objects float because they weigh less that the buoyancy force exerted on them by the liquid they are immersed in.

It is easiest to understand the buoyancy force as it is applied to water and beach-balls, then apply it to the atmosphere and balloons. Imagine a tank of water. In the tank there is a submerged beach-ball filled with water. The water filled beach-ball will not move in the tank because the forces around it are in equilibrium, all forces are balanced. Because the water filled beach-ball is in equilibrium the downward force of its weight (force due to gravity) must be in balance with some upward force (force due to the liquid surroun...

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... 2. Taiwan Headlines, Lanterns Lift Prayers for Peace, Prosperity. http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/20040205/20040203f2.html , 2004

3. Government Information Office: Republic of China, Holidays and Festivals in Taiwan, Pinghsi Sky Lanterns, http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/glue_e/taipei1.htm 2002

4. How Stuff Works, http://travel.howstuffworks.com/hot-air-balloon7.htm , 2005

5. Serway, R.A., Jewett, J.W. Jr., Physics for Scientists and Engineers: 6th edition , Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning, 2004

6. Answers.com, Hot-air Balloon http://www.answers.com/topic/hot-air-balloon-vehicle , 2005

7. Spartacus: Virtual School, History of Aviation, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/AVrozier.htm

8. http://www.overflite.com/history.html , 2005

9. Measure Converter, http://www.allmeasures.com/Formulae/static/materials/82/density.htm , 2005

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