FUEGO
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7,746
I just did a quick back of the envelope calculation on what it would take to build a helium filled balloon to life a six year old.
I assumed a payload of 40 lbs, 10 pounds of structural material for the balloon and carriage. 50 lbs total or 23 kg. At a height of 3000 ft, density of air is roughly 1.1 kg/m^3, helium is around 0.18 kg/m^3 (at standard temp and pressure, not sure at 3000 ft, but altitude difference for helium density is negligible vs. that of air).
Looking at the buoyancy of the craft filled with helium and surrounded by air, it looks like it would take a sphere of 12' diameter filled with helium to lift the 50 lbs of payload and structure. That thing looked pretty big, so it may have been "light" enough to actually have lifted what would have been Falcon.
I assumed a payload of 40 lbs, 10 pounds of structural material for the balloon and carriage. 50 lbs total or 23 kg. At a height of 3000 ft, density of air is roughly 1.1 kg/m^3, helium is around 0.18 kg/m^3 (at standard temp and pressure, not sure at 3000 ft, but altitude difference for helium density is negligible vs. that of air).
Looking at the buoyancy of the craft filled with helium and surrounded by air, it looks like it would take a sphere of 12' diameter filled with helium to lift the 50 lbs of payload and structure. That thing looked pretty big, so it may have been "light" enough to actually have lifted what would have been Falcon.