The Hot Air Balloon Free Essay Example

The Hot Air Balloon is the earliest successful flight innovation that held people. This creation remains in a class of airplane called: Balloon Aircraft. Pre-modern & & Unmanned hot air balloons were incredibly popular in Chinese history. It was utilized in the Three Kingdoms period (220– 280 AD). In this amount of time these pre-modern balloons were used as airborne lanterns for military signaling. These lanterns are known as Kongming lanterns. The idea of the first manned balloon was birthed from two siblings, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier.

The two siblings originated from a household of paper-makers in Annonay, France. These Frenchmen tried to capture smoke from their fireplace in a paper bag, and as an outcome it rose. When the smoke cooled off the sack would fall, this provided the concept to make a real balloon in 1783. However before their very first tethered balloon flight with people on October 15, 1783, the Montgolfier siblings try out unmanned balloons and typical stock.

When they that the balloon was safe enough they launched their first complimentary flight with human passengers on November 21, 1783.

The first balloon was tape-recorded to be 35 feet in diameter and had a capacity of 23,000 cubic ft, and it was made of linen lined paper. Within weeks they launched a balloon to a height of 6,000 feet and these airplane took a trip about a price quote of 2 miles. 1783 became the turning point year for aviation; some say that the dream of flying was lastly realized. Ballooning was like a fever and it was capturing quickly.

Within the same timespan, two brothers emerged by the name of Robert. They got aid from a physicist called JAC Charles. The Robert siblings coated the silk balloons with rubber so the gas wouldn’t leakage. The physicist wanted to use his concept of using hydrogen to make the balloons drift.

Later, Charles became extremely well-known for his ideas and test flights.In these test flights the silk balloons were filled with hydrogen and were released from iron filings that would be called Charlieres. Everyone including Benjamin Franklin, who was residing in France at the time, was impressed with the Montgolfier bro’s work. By 1785, everyone was ready to fly. On June 29, 1785, the very first woman flew, Mrs. Sage of England, and she landed securely along with the researchers that explored with ballooning.

Also in 1785, the first American became a passenger, Dr. John Jeffries, and he paid 100 pounds for this privilege to ride. The first military use of a hot air balloon happened during the battle of Fleurus in 1794. The French used the hot air balloon as an observation post. With all the excitement not everyone was aware of how dangerous ballooning was, in fact many balloons would catch fire and the passengers would die. Even De Rozier (1785) tried to cross the English Channel with his brother and they died because their balloon burst into flames.

In conclusion, it could be said that this aircraft (hot air balloon) lead to many other creations such as the airplane, helicopter, etc. It proved that humans could soar in the sky with the birds. It was a true phenomenon. Also here is a picture of the first manned hot air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers:

WORK CITIED
* Clark, Liesl. “A Short History of Ballooning.” PBS. PBS, 30 Nov. 0097. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/short-history-of-ballooning.html>. * “Hot Air Balloon.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_air_balloon>. * “Hot Air Balloon History – Invention of the Hot Air Balloon.” The Great Idea Finder. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/haballoon.htm>. * Boyne, Walter J. The Smithsonian book of Flight. Smithsonian Books. Washington, D.C. 1987 * Fraser. The Story of Aircraft. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. New York 1933

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