Up, Up, and Away

Overview

Objectives/Goals To predict gross lift for a hot air balloon before flight testing. Methods/Materials Measure the volume of the balloon. Test for temperature inside the balloon. Weigh the balloon. Calculate lift using a lift table and rule of thumb. Predict how much weight the balloon can lift. Perform flight test to test hypothesis. Hot air balloon is a dry cleaning bag. Air is heated with a propane torch and metal pipe stand. Temperatures are measured with a instant read thermometer. Balance scale used for measuring balloon and lift weights. Lead weights and paperclips for flight test. Packing peanuts for measuring volume. Results I predicted a gross lift of 22.35 grams. My flight test successfully lifted 35 grams. I exceeded my prediction by 12.65 grams. Conclusions/Discussion The balloon was able to lift more weight that I predicted. The part of my project I probably needed to control better was the temperature inside the balloon. I tried to keep the inside temperature the same during the flight test, but I must have been heating the inside to a higher temperature than my thermometer was reading. A higher inside temperature would explain the extra lift.

Competition history

• CSEF 2011 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1821

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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