What do you know about balloons? Well, of course, they are bright, beautiful and give a lot of positive emotions. And where can they be used? Associations immediately arise with some special events. But sometimes some things can be used in very unusual ways.
Now we will look at this using real examples.
1. You can fly on balloons!
Who in childhood did not dream of flying into the sky holding balloons in their hands? But professional skier and base jumper Erik Roner, a native of Northern California, turned his dream into reality. Tied to a summer lounger 90 balloons filled with helium, it rose to a height of 2.5 km. The extreme sportsman took a gun and a parachute with him.
Having reached the desired height, Eric Rohner started shooting at the balls and quickly went to free fall. He then opened his parachute and landed successfully. You can watch this incredibly brave act in the video.
2. Balloon sculptures
American sculptor Larry Moss came up with his own project “Airigami”. This is a rather creative and unconventional approach to art.
It's hard to believe that balloons can be used to create copies of paintings by such great artists as Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Grant Wood. But as you can see, nothing is impossible.
Copy of the painting “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli
Copy of the painting “American Gothic” by Grant Wood
Copy of the painting "Vitruvian Man" by da Vinci
Larry Moss also developed a whole collection of clothes made from balloons.
The brave experimenter also created the largest sculpture made of balls, which was even included in the Guinness Book of Records. Indeed, the flight of fancy has no limits, and sometimes a look at a familiar thing from a different angle gives it new life.
3. Mobile phone case made of unusual material
Without attaching special effort, a balloon can turn into a real smartphone case. Moreover, such a case does not require large financial expenditures and you can change the color every day. This can be done in 3 stages:
- Inflate the balloon, clamp the exit hole and place the phone on it.
- You begin to slowly release the air, while lightly pressing on the smartphone.
- The air comes out and the ball fits tightly around the gadget.
So the bright and beautiful case is ready. Just don't forget to cut out a hole for charging.
4. Balloons in the shape of meat products
Japan is truly amazing country. A great many inventions were invented there. And so the Japanese came up with another unusual thing - air balloons Meat Balloons that look like real meat products.
The creators of the unique balls expect that they will be used in store windows as a demonstration product. Agree, this is very convenient, since such products do not attract insects and do not deteriorate.
5. Using the ball in making sweets
You can make delicious cups from chocolate. To do this, you will need the chocolate itself and a balloon, the size of which you select according to at will. First we make the base of the cup to ensure stability; to do this, pour a spoonful of chocolate onto the surface. Then we dip the ball in hot chocolate and place it on the prepared base. Let it cool down and the cup is ready. This container can be used for filling with desserts.
You can attach handles.
6. Water container
While relaxing at the dacha, you picked a beautiful bouquet of flowers and want to take it home. How can you make sure that the flowers don’t wilt along the way? It turns out to be very simple. You need to take a dense balloon and use it as a container of water. To do this, the top can be cut off.
You can also make an unusual exclusive vase. You will need a jar and a balloon. Place the ball in a jar or bottle, secure the edges to the neck. And the vase is ready. Pour water and admire the flower arrangement.
7. Food coolers
When it's hot, you really want to drink something cold. If you go on a picnic with friends, then, unfortunately, there is no refrigerator in nature. Prepare in advance for your trip and freeze water in balloons. Now the food will not spoil, and there will be enough soft drinks.
8. Headwear dryer
To prevent your hat from becoming wrinkled or losing its shape after washing, you can dry it on a balloon.
9. Sound amplifiers
It turns out that if you put balloons to your ears, you can catch the subtlest sounds and enhance the effect of the volume of the music. In Europe, especially among young people, listening to a concert classical music, inserting balls into the ears has become very popular.
So, as it turns out, the human imagination is capable of creating miracles. Surely many more new discoveries await us ahead.
We remind you that you can buy balloons and helium balloons from us. You can get acquainted with the range and prices.
And finally, we suggest watching a video that explains how balloons are made.
Colorful, rainbow balloons will decorate any event, lift the most disgusting mood, give joy and good emotions to any person, regardless of age.
If you stare at a cluster of multi-colored balloons and cannot help but be delighted when looking at them and are madly sorry when they burst, it means that in your soul you remain just as impressionable and emotional child like kids running around. Then our article is also for you.
- As it turns out, in the old days they also loved balloons. But they were made by filling the intestines of livestock with air.
- The most expensive air-filled balloons were manufactured in 1970 for use in the Ballet. They were made from metallized nylon, a very durable material. These balloons are much more expensive than their modern latex counterparts.
- By the way, latex balloons are capable of biodegradation - that is, they do not harm the environment.
- Lighter than air gas– for example, various balloons are filled with hydrogen. For a long time they were called by the name of the first scientist Jacques Charles who launched them - Charlesres. For the first time such a large balloon was launched on the Champ de Mars in Paris. This took place on August 27, 1783.
- With the advent of large Vehicle There were also related disasters. One of the first accidents was a hot air balloon crash in Ireland. This happened in 1785.
- In the 20th century, huge airships began to be used and other balloons, first for movement, and later for protection airspace. During the war, they fulfilled their task with honor.
- Rezi new ball was first created Michael Faraday in 1824. He connected several pieces of rubber, fastening their ribs.
- Originally filled with helium The balls were intended for use in astronautics. In 1985, they were dropped into the atmosphere using Soviet probes.
- The smallest hole in hot-air balloon leads to a supersonic explosion. The air accumulated inside begins to rush out with such force that it tears its sphere at the speed of sound. This creates a loud explosion that can frighten the most persistent daredevil.
- Where do the latex balloons launched into the sky go? It has been established that they rise to a height of 5 km, then freeze there and break into pieces that scatter throughout the world. Sometimes they fall to the ground and gradually decompose. If an animal accidentally swallows a piece of latex, it will not cause harm to its health.
- The most massive balloon launch is considered an event dedicated to the release of a new blockbuster - the cartoon "Aladdin". The celebration took place at Disney Park in England in August 1994. Then 1,592,744 helium balloons soared into the sky.
- Record for the use of balloons was staged in Singapore. There, a robot figure was created from 80 thousand colorful balls. Fifty people worked on it for two days.
IN Lately More and more often in the sky you can see Aeronauts taking off balloons into the sky and “plow” across the sky. Balloons can now be seen not only in the big cities of our country, but also in any small town. How wonderful it is to propose to your beloved in the air, or give a few hours of delightful flight to the best friend over your hometown, or just enjoy the beautiful view from a bird's eye view. As has already been said, now it’s not a problem to pay and soar into the skies, but how it all began, who created the balloon, who became the first passenger, you will find out further...
The hot air balloon as such was invented by the brothers-inventors Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, who launched the first balloon into the air on June 5, 1783. Strangely enough, the first passengers were animals: a ram, a rooster and a duck. The flight was successful and the landing too, except that the rooster's wing was damaged, but as it turned out later cause became a ram that hit the rooster in flight. The first person to be in the air in a hot air balloon was James Tyler, who soared to a height of 106 m and flew as much as 800 m in the sky.
How do hot air balloon flights work? The basis for hot air balloon flights are the laws of physics - the air that is inside the balloon has a lower density than the air outside the balloon, which is why the balloons fly. But if you change the temperature of the air in the ball using a balloon, the ball will soar up or fly down. It is customary to fly on balloons either during dawn or during sunset, since at this time the weather is calmer, and this is very important, since controlling the balloon is quite difficult, it all depends on the strength of the wind, and balloons cannot fly during rainy weather. weather. And the theory that they fly on balloons in the summer is false - after all, they are designed for flights both in 40 degrees of heat and in 20 degrees of cold.
A hot air balloon (as hot air balloons are usually called) can accommodate up to 6 people at the same time, and the balloons fly in tourist flights at an altitude of 300 meters, although they can reach a height of 5000 m. Usually, when landing, the gondola lies on its side. Tourists usually stay in the air for no more than 2 hours, but on January 24, 2016, two of our compatriots Fyodor Konyukhov and Ivan Menyailo broke the world record and stayed in the sky for 29 hours and 15 minutes.
And now some historical facts:
1. back in 1785, immediately after the creation of the hot air balloon, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Dr. John Jeffreys crossed the English Channel, both of whom could not swim.
2. 18-19 centuries - the time of duels, not without a duel in a balloon, the first of which took place in 1806 in Paris. An aeronaut with a bullet-ridden balloon crashed and died.
3. first trip around the world was in 1999, the record holders were Brian Jones and Bertrand Picard.
4. in 2013 in France, 408 balloons rose into the air at the same time - this became another world record.
Thanks to French verb At least two words with the meaning “to manage” appeared in the Russian language. One of them, the word conductor, is a person who directs a group of musicians. The second word refers to a controlled - as opposed to an uncontrolled hot air balloon - balloon. Meet the airship.
1. By definition, an airship is called aircraft lighter than air, aerostat with engine. The engine allows the airship to move regardless of the direction of air currents. It is clear that airships arose only after the advent of engines: before that, humanity dreaming of the sky made do with hot air balloons.
2. The inventor of the airship is considered to be the French mathematician Jean Baptiste Marie Charles Meunier. He came up with everything: the shape of an ellipsoid, three propellers for controllability, which had to be manually rotated by as many as 80 people, two shells: to change the volume of gas and, consequently, the flight altitude.
3. Meunier’s ideas were implemented by a completely different person, the French engineer Henri Giffard. He designed the world's first airship with steam engine power of three horsepower. In September 1852, Giffard flew it over the Paris Hippodrome and flew about 30 kilometers from average speed 10 kilometers per hour. It is from this flight that the era of motor aviation and the era of airships are counted.
4. Twenty years later, an engine was installed on a similar aircraft internal combustion- did it German engineer Paul Haenlein.
5. Giffard's airship is usually called a soft airship. In such systems, the fabric body also serves as a gas shell. The Great Tsiolkovsky noted the disadvantages of such airships: the inability to maintain altitude, the high probability of fires, and poor horizontal controllability.
6. If in bottom part shell, install a metal truss, you get a semi-rigid airship - such was the famous “Italy” by Umberto Nobile.
7. Tsiolkovsky criticized soft airships not unfounded: back in the 80s years XIX century, he calculated and proposed a design for a large cargo airship of rigid construction with metal lining.
8. What was invented in Russia was implemented in Germany. On own funds Count Zeppelin built a rigid airship and personally tested it. By the First World War, the Count's airships, which were called "Zeppelins" in his honor, became a means of transportation.
9. During the war, zeppelins bombed London, after its end they flew across the Atlantic by shuttle, and one even flew around the world. The Zeppelins were let down by hydrogen, which was used instead of helium: after the explosion and fire of the Hindenburg airship, nicknamed the “heavenly Titanic,” the Zeppelins became history.
10. In the USSR, the first airship was built in 1923. Then, at the main directorate of the Main Air Force, they created the Airship Construction and invited Nobile to join the designers. Nobile managed it, and created the semi-rigid Soviet airship "USSR V-5". Then they created the USSR V-6, and it even set a world record for flight duration.
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“Hurry up and prepare more silk fabric and ropes, and you will see one of the most amazing things in the world,” Etienne Montgolfier, the owner of a paper factory in a small French town, received such a note from his older brother Joseph in 1782. The message meant that at last something had been found that the brothers had talked about more than once during their meetings: a means by which one could rise into the air... |
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History of Aeronautics in Dates.
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Dream of flight. The history of the birth of aeronautics.
"PASSAROLA" LORENZO GUZMAO
Among the pioneers of aeronautics, whose names have not been forgotten by history, but whose scientific achievements remained unknown or questioned for centuries, says Brazilian Bartolommeo Lorenzo. It is his real name, and he entered the history of aeronautics as the Portuguese priest Lorenzo Guzmao, the author of the Passarola project, which until recently was perceived as pure fantasy. After a lengthy search in 1971, it was possible to find documents that shed light on the events of the distant past. These events began in 1708, when, having moved to Portugal, Lorenzo Guzmao entered the university in Coimbra and was inspired by the idea of building an aircraft. Having shown extraordinary ability in the study of physics and mathematics, he began with what is the basis of any endeavor: with experiment. He built several models that became prototypes of the planned vessel. In August 1709, the models were demonstrated to the highest royal nobility. One of the demonstrations was successful: a thin egg-shaped shell with a small brazier suspended underneath, heating the air, rose almost four meters from the ground. In the same year, Guzmao began implementing the Passarola project. History has no information about her test. But in any case, Lorenzo Guzmao was the first person who, based on the study physical phenomena nature, was able to identify real way aeronautics and tried to put it into practice.
THE INVENTION OF JOSEPH MONTGOLFIER
“Hurry up and prepare more silk fabric and ropes, and you will see one of the most amazing things in the world,” Etienne Montgolfier, the owner of a paper factory in a small French town, received such a note from his older brother Joseph in 1782. The message meant that at last something had been found that the brothers had talked about more than once during their meetings: a means by which one could rise into the air. This means turned out to be a shell filled with smoke. As a result of a simple experiment, J. Montgolfier saw how a fabric shell, sewn in the shape of a box from two pieces of fabric, after filling it with smoke, rushed upward. Joseph's discovery also captivated his brother. Now working together, they built two more aerostatic machines (that’s what they called their balloons). One of them, made in the form of a ball with a diameter of 3.5 meters, was demonstrated among family and friends. It was a complete success - the shell stayed in the air for about 10 minutes, rising to a height of almost 300 meters and flying through the air for about a kilometer. Inspired by their success, the brothers decided to show the invention to the general public. They built a huge balloon with a diameter of more than 10 meters. Its shell, made of canvas, was reinforced with rope mesh and covered with paper to increase impermeability. The balloon demonstration took place on the city market square on June 5, 1783, in the presence of large number spectators. A ball filled with smoke rushed upward. A special protocol, signed by officials, documented all the details of the experiment. Thus, for the first time, the invention that opened the way to aeronautics was officially certified.
THE INVENTION OF PROFESSOR CHARLES
The Montgolfier brothers' balloon flight aroused great interest in Paris. The Academy of Sciences invited them to repeat their experience in the capital. At the same time, the young French physicist Professor Jacques Charles was ordered to prepare and demonstrate his aircraft. Charles was sure that hot air balloon gas, as the smoky air was called then, was not the best remedy to create aerostatic lift. He was well acquainted with latest discoveries in the field of chemistry and believed that the use of hydrogen would provide much greater benefits, since it is lighter than air. But having chosen hydrogen to fill the shell of the aircraft, Charles found himself in front of a series of technical problems. First of all, what to make a lightweight shell from that can long time keep volatile gas. The mechanics, the Robey brothers, helped him cope with this problem." They produced the material necessary qualities, using light silk fabric coated with a solution of rubber in turpentine. On August 27, 1783, Charles's flying machine took off from the Champ de Mars in Paris. In front of 300 thousand spectators, he rushed upward and soon became invisible. When one of those present exclaimed: “What is the point of all this?!” - famous American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin, who was among the spectators, remarked: “What is the point of bringing a newborn into the world?” The remark turned out to be prophetic. A “newborn” was born, who was destined for a great future.
FIRST AIR PASSENGERS
The successful flight of Charles's balloon did not stop the Montgolfier brothers from their intention to take advantage of the offer of the Academy of Sciences and demonstrate a balloon of their own design in Paris. In an effort to make the greatest impression, Etienne used all his talent; it was not for nothing that he was also considered an excellent architect. The balloon he built was, in a sense, a work of art. Its shell, more than 20 meters high, had an unusual barrel-shaped shape and was decorated on the outside with monograms and colorful ornaments. The balloon demonstrated to official representatives of the Academy of Sciences aroused such admiration among them that it was decided to repeat the display in the presence of royal court. The demonstration took place at Versailles (near Paris) on September 19, 1783. True, the balloon, which aroused the admiration of French academics, did not live to see this day: its shell was washed away by rain, and it became unusable. However, this did not stop the Montgolfier brothers. Working day and night, they built a ball by the scheduled date, which was not inferior in beauty to the previous one. To create an even greater effect, the brothers attached a cage to the balloon, where they put a ram, a duck and a rooster. These were the first passengers in the history of aeronautics. The balloon took off from the platform and rushed upward, and eight minutes later, having traveled a distance of four kilometers, it safely landed on the ground. The Montgolfier brothers became the heroes of the day, were awarded awards, and all balloons that used smoky air to create lift were from that day called hot air balloons.
THE FIRST MAN FLIGHT IN A HOT HOTTON FIELD
Each flight of the Montgolfier brothers' balloons brought them closer to cherished goal- human flight. The new ball they built was larger: height 22.7 meters, diameter 15 meters. In its lower part there was a ring gallery, designed for two people. In the middle of the gallery there was a fireplace for burning crushed straw. Being under a hole in the shell, it radiated heat, which warmed the air inside the shell during the balloon flight. This made it possible to make a balloon flight longer and, to some extent, more controllable. King Louis XVI of France forbade the authors of the project to take personal part in the flight. Such a life-threatening task, in his opinion, should have been entrusted to two criminals sentenced to death penalty. But this caused violent protests from Pilatre de Rosier, an active participant in the construction of the hot air balloon. He could not come to terms with the idea that the names of some criminals would go down in the history of aeronautics, and insisted on personally participating in the flight. Permission was received. Another “pilot” was the Marquis d’Arland, a fan of aeronautics. And on November 21, 1783, a man was finally able to take off from the ground and make an aerial flight. The hot air balloon stayed in the air for 25 minutes, flying about nine kilometers.
FIRST MAN FLIGHT ON CHARLIÉRE
In an effort to prove that the future of aeronautics belongs to charliers (the so-called balloons with shells filled with hydrogen), and not to hot air balloons, Professor Charles understood that for this it was necessary to carry out a flight of people on a charlier, and more spectacular than the flight of the Montgolfier brothers. While creating the new balloon, he developed a number of design solutions that were then used for many decades. The charlier he built had a mesh that covered the upper hemisphere of the balloon shell, and slings with which a gondola for people was suspended from this mesh. A special vent was made in the shell to allow hydrogen to escape when the external pressure dropped. To control the flight altitude, a special valve in the shell and ballast stored in the nacelle were used. An anchor was also provided to facilitate landing on the ground. On December 1, 1783, the charlier, with a diameter of more than nine meters, took off in the Tuileries Park. Professor Charles and one of the Robert brothers, who took an active part in the construction of the Charliers, went on it. Having flown 40 kilometers, they landed safely near a small village. Charles then continued his journey alone. Charlier flew five kilometers, climbing to an unprecedented height for that time - 2750 meters. After staying in the sky-high heights for about half an hour, the researcher landed safely, thus completing the first flight in the history of aeronautics in a balloon with a shell filled with hydrogen.
AEROSTAT OVER THE English Channel
The life of the French mechanic Jean Pierre Blanchard, who made the first balloon flight across the English Channel, is notable for being a vivid illustration turning point in the development of aeronautics late XVIII century. Blanchard began by implementing the idea of flapping flight. In 1781, he built an apparatus whose wings were driven by the force of his arms and legs. Testing this apparatus suspended on a rope thrown over a pulley, the inventor rose to the height of the roof of a multi-story building with a counterweight of only 10 kilograms. Delighted by the success, he published in the newspaper his thoughts on the possibility of flapping human flight. Air travel made on the first balloons, and then the search for means of controlling their movement, again returned Blanchard to the idea of wings, this time as a control for the balloon. Although Blanchard's first trip in a balloon with winged oars ended unsuccessfully, he did not give up his attempts and became more and more interested in rising into the heavenly expanse. Blanchard began giving public demonstrations of hot air ballooning. When his flights began in England in the fall of 1784, he had the idea of flying in a balloon across the English Channel, thereby proving the possibility air traffic between England and France. This historic flight, in which Blanchard and his friend took part American doctor Geoffrey, took place on January 7, 1785.
A LIFE DEVOTED TO AERONAUTATION
The history of aeronautics has been a history of not only victories, but also defeats, and sometimes dramatic fates. An example of this is the life of Pilatre de Rosier. A physicist by training, he was one of the first to understand the true significance of Joseph Montgolfier's invention. Rosier persistently put forward the idea of manned aeronautics, repeatedly declaring his personal readiness to fly in a hot air balloon. Persistence and courage led to triumph: Rosier became the first aeronaut pilot, making a twenty-minute flight on a hot air balloon together with the Marquis d'Arland on November 21, 1783. At his suggestion, the design of the hot air balloon, which was built in 1783 in the city of Lyon for a flight demonstration, was changed. In the new version, the balloon was designed to lift twelve people into the air. And although the Lyon hot air balloon lifted only seven people into the air and touched down again 15 minutes later, it was the first flight of a multi-seat balloon in the history of aeronautics. Then Rosier sets a new record. In flight on a hot air balloon, together with the chemist Proulx, he reaches a height of 4000 meters. Having achieved this success, Rosier returns to the idea of long-distance flights. Now his goal is to fly across the English Channel. He develops a balloon of his own design, combining a conventional spherical balloon and a hot air balloon cylindrical. The combined balloon became known as a rosier. But fate was clearly not kind to Pilatre de Rozier. Having taken off on June 15, 1785, together with his assistant Romain, Rosier did not even have time to fly to the English Channel. A fire that broke out on the rosier led to tragic death both aeronauts.
FROM DREAM TO PROFESSION
Attempts to implement controlled movement of balloons, undertaken in France in the early years of the development of aeronautics, did not yield positive results. And the interest of the general public in demonstration flights gradually turned aeronautics into special kind spectacular events. But in 1793, that is, ten years after the first flights of people in balloons, their area was discovered practical application. French physicist Guiton de Morveau proposed the use of tethered balloons to lift observers into the air. This idea was expressed at a time when the enemies of the Great french revolution tried to strangle her. The technical development of the tethered balloon project was entrusted to the physicist Coutell. He successfully completed the task, and in October 1793 the balloon was sent to the active army for field testing, and in April 1794 a decree was issued on the organization of the first aeronautical company French army. Cutelle was appointed its commander. The appearance of tethered balloons over positions French troops stunned the enemy: rising to a height of 500 meters, observers could look far into the depths of his defense. Intelligence data was transmitted to the ground in special boxes, which were lowered along a cord attached to the gondola. After the victory of the French troops, the National Aeronautical School was created by the decision of the Convention. Although it lasted only five years, a start had been made: aeronautics became a profession.