Our hot air balloons carry between 10 and 16 passengers and are approximately the size of large board room table. Balloons have set minimum and maximum loading capacities. Large balloon baskets are usually rectangular and are split into comfortable compartments for three or four people, giving everyone a fantastic view. Surfaces are covered in smooth leather and there are foot holes in the side of the basket so passengers can climb in and out.
Many of our Virgin balloon baskets have bench seats which can be used for landing. It is fixed to a metal frame attached above the basket under the mouth of the envelope.
The burner mixes liquid propane from pressurised gas tanks with oxygen and ignites it. The pilot pulls a small valve which fires the burner and aims the flame into the mouth of the balloon to heat the air inside.
Our balloons have two burners including one which lets propane out more slowly making it quieter. Our balloons generally also have specially-fitted heat shields below the burners which stop it getting too toasty for you but we still recommend a hat. Hot air balloons work because hot air rises. By heating the air inside the balloon with the burner, it becomes lighter than the cooler air on the outside.
This causes the balloon to float upwards, as if it were in water. Obviously, if the air is allowed to cools, the balloon begins to slowly come down. Pilots have a great deal of control over the altitude of the balloon which they monitor with various instruments.
Balloons cannot be steered in the normal sense of the word so they travel in the direction of the wind, which varies at different altitudes. Pilots skillfully use this as a way of changing direction by burning to go up, or allowing the air to cool to go down, and catch different air streams at different heights.
Pilots can use turning vents in the side of the balloon to rotate it degrees so you have a full panoramic view and to make the broad side of the basket lead for landing. Pilots bring the balloon into land, usually after around an hour in the air on a passenger flight, when they see a safe open space often out in the countryside.
The pilot asks all passengers to crouch down in the seated landing position knees bent, back facing in the direction of travel and holding ropes provided. As the balloon approaches the ground, the pilot releases the vent at the top of the balloon letting the hot air escape.
When the basket touches down, sometimes there is a bump, a skid and the basket can occasionally tip over slightly. Hydrogen weighs just 0. However, it is highly flammable, so the slightest spark can cause a huge explosion. So why are helium and hydrogen so much lighter than air? It's because the hydrogen and helium atoms are lighter than a nitrogen atom. They have fewer electrons, protons and neutrons than nitrogen atoms do, and that makes them lighter the approximate atomic weight of hydrogen is 1, helium is 4 and nitrogen is Approximately the same number of atoms of each of these elements fills approximately the same amount of space.
Therefore, the gases made of lighter atoms are lighter. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe.
Prev NEXT. Physical Science. Chemical Processes and Tests. Determine the volume of the balloon. So first determine the radius of the sphere the radius is half the diameter. If you are measuring your balloon in feet, that gives you the volume of the balloon in cubic feet. One cubic foot of helium will lift about Divide by -- the number of grams in a pound -- to determine the number of pounds it can lift.
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