26 Apr How Hot Air Balloons Work?
As a child, most of us would have been curious as to how the hot air balloons float in the air. Science has its strange ways to keep the balloon afloat and move in a particular direction. Many of you would have even learnt about it at some point of time in life. But do you still remember all the factors that make the hot air balloons work the way it does? It is undeniable that after that age of attaining the fundamental cognitive skills, people often forget to look into the fascinating facts behind every little marvel they came across. To gain first-hand knowledge about how the hot air balloons work, you need to take the courage to take a flight on a balloon. You can always join the expert pilots to fly through the skies in that giant balloon. Let us delve deeper into the world of hot air balloons.
Hot Air Balloon
The hot air balloons that you see passing over the sky through distances are unique creations of a flying craft that works with the rising of hot air. Two types of hot air balloon were developed in the eighteenth century and is being used to date.
Working of the Hot Air Balloons
The rising of the hot air causes the hot air balloons to float in the air. The air inside the balloon becomes lighter when it gets heated with a burner. This will push the balloon up in the air to float like that in water. When the air inside the balloon gets cooled, the balloon will come back down. Various instruments are used by pilots to monitor the altitude of the balloon by controlling it.
The direction that a hot air balloon follows will depend on the altitude that it remains at. Pilots possess the skill to steer to use this to their advantage by steering the balloon. They change the direction by catching different air streams at different heights and burning the air inside to go up, or letting the air to cool to go back down. Turning vents are also used by the pilots to rotate the balloon 360 degrees in such a way that you get to have a panoramic view of the area.
You don’t get to land at the pre-determined locations when flying a hot air balloon as the helicopters and planes do. These balloons cannot be steered like those massive metal flights, thereby making it an adventure activity. The balloon would be brought into the landing position on a passenger flight or in the air after about an hour of being afloat. Passengers have to remain in the seated landing position when landing, and when the balloon approaches the ground, the hot air escapes from the balloon as the pilot releases the vent. When landing, the basket could slightly tip over the bumps on the ground, which is totally safe. You don’t need to panic about such a situation since this is how balloons have been working for centuries now. Hot air balloon events are held each year, some make huge personalized yard signs so you can read them from high in the air.
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