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The Spike of Fascinating & Unexpected
SPIKE 06
→ HOT AIR BALLOON.
© 1. unknown — Expérience des frères Montgolfier à Versailles le 19 septembre 1783 / 2. Prudent René Patrice Dagron — Henri Giffard balloon at the Tuileries (1878) / 3. unknown — Siège de Mayence (1795) / 4. Hans Groß — Balloon Humboldt (1893) / 5. James Glaisher — Travels in the Air (1871) / 6. F.G. Waller-Fonds — Experience de Vaisseau Volant de Mr. Blanchard (1784) / 7. unknown — Panorama de Paris. Vu de la nacelle du grand ballon captif à vapeur de la cour des Tuileries (1878) / 8. Wellcome Collection — Three hot-air balloons travel over a snowy landscape, E.Roberts / 9. unknown (Gallica BnF collection) — Alarme générale des habitans de Gonesse (178-) / 10. Hess Society/Echophysics/Schloss Pöllau — Victor Hess.
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On June 4, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne, launched the first public demonstration of a hot air balloon in Annonay, France. The balloon, made of paper and silk, flew for approximately 10 minutes and travelled about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles), reaching an altitude of around 1,500 metres (4,921 feet). The balloon was unmanned for this initial flight, carrying only a payload of wool and straw to showcase the potential of hot air ballooning. This successful flight marked the beginning of human attempts at flight, leading to crewed flights later that year.
The next notable flight of the Montgolfier brothers occurred on September 19, 1783, at the Palace of Versailles. This flight was witnessed by King Louis XVI, Queen Marie Antoinette, and a large crowd of spectators. This demonstration included passengers—though not human ones. The balloon, named “Aerostat Réveillon” after the paper manufacturer who supplied the materials, carried a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. These animals were chosen because they could help scientists understand the effects of flight at high altitudes. The sheep was chosen as a stand-in for humans, while the duck and rooster were controls to see how animals that could already fly would be affected. The flight lasted about 8 minutes, covering approximately 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) and reaching an altitude of about 480 metres (1,570 feet). Upon landing, the animals were found to be unharmed—with only a minor injury to the rooster wing due to a kick from the sheep—proving that hot air balloon flight was safe for living beings. This successful demonstration paved the way for human flight, which followed shortly after.
The first human flight in a hot air balloon finally took place on November 21, 1783, in Paris. The Montgolfier brothers built a balloon made of paper and silk piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes. The flight began from the grounds of the Château de la Muette in the Bois de Boulogne. Pilâtre de Rozier and d'Arlandes flew the balloon for about 25 minutes, travelling approximately 9 kilometres (about 5.5 miles) and reaching an estimated altitude of 910 meters (approximately 3,000 feet). During the flight, the balloon was fueled by burning a combination of straw and wool, which was typical for the Montgolfier designs. The pilots had to manage the fire carefully to maintain altitude and ensure the balloon did not catch fire. They successfully navigated over the Seine River and various parts of Paris, eventually landing safely.
The following years were marked by several milestones. Balloons have been used in a vast array of functions and played a crucial role in the study of cosmic rays, particularly in the early 20th century. One of the pioneers in this field was Victor Hess, an Austrian physicist who used balloons to investigate the nature of cosmic radiation. In the early 1900s, scientists observed unexplained levels of radiation that seemed to increase with altitude. To study this phenomenon, Victor Hess conducted a series of balloon flights between 1911 and 1913. He equipped his balloons with electroscopes, devices that measure ionizing radiation, which were critical for detecting the presence and intensity of cosmic rays at various altitudes. On April 7, 1912, Hess ascended to an altitude of about 5,300 metres (17,390 feet) and discovered that radiation levels increased with altitude, contrary to the then-prevailing belief that they would decrease due to the shielding effect of the Earth's atmosphere. In August 1912, Hess undertook another flight during a near-total solar eclipse. If the radiation was coming from the sun, it would decrease during the eclipse. However, the radiation levels remained constant, suggesting an extraterrestrial origin for the cosmic rays. Hess's findings were groundbreaking, providing conclusive evidence that cosmic rays originated from outside the Earth’s atmosphere. This discovery earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1936.
Following Hess’s pioneering work, high-altitude balloons became a standard tool for studying cosmic rays. These balloons could carry scientific instruments to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, where they could collect data with minimal interference from the Earth’s surface. Over the decades, technological improvements allowed for more sophisticated payloads, including cloud chambers, Geiger counters, and, later, more advanced detectors that could measure various properties of cosmic rays, such as their energy and composition. Today, while satellites and other space-based observatories have taken over much of the work of studying cosmic rays, balloons still play a role in certain types of experiments. High-altitude balloons are relatively low-cost and can be launched more frequently than satellites, making them valuable for specific types of measurements and tests of new equipment.
Nowadays, hot air balloons, like all aircraft, are subject to regulations. In the case of hot air balloons, these regulations are unique and are known as “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 103 regulations”. These regulations provide a framework for the operation of ultralight aircraft without requiring a pilot’s licence. However, certain criteria must be met, such as weight limits and altitude restrictions, to ensure safety and responsible operation in the air.
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