Knowra Hot air balloon Hot air balloon A lighter-than-air aircraft whose heated envelope air is less dense than the surrounding atmosphere, producing buoyant lift. It rises or descends as its pilot changes the air’s temperature.
Buoyancy : The upward force on an object immersed in a fluid, equal to the weight of fluid it displaces. The envelope rises because its contents and payload displace heavier surrounding air.
Montgolfier brothers : Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, French inventors who developed the first successful hot air balloons. Their experiments in 1782–1783 led to the first public demonstrations and piloted flights.
Balloon flight : Flight using a buoyant balloon as its lifting aircraft. Hot air ballooning is a specific way to achieve balloon flight.
Gas balloon : A balloon lifted by a gas lighter than air, commonly helium or hydrogen, rather than heated air. It produces lift without continuously heating the envelope’s contents.
Ideal gas law : A relation among a gas’s pressure, volume, amount, and absolute temperature. At nearly constant pressure, heating the envelope air lowers its density.
Annonay balloon demonstration : The Montgolfier brothers’ public hot air balloon demonstration at Annonay, France, in 1783. It showed that a large hot air balloon could rise before an audience.
Atmospheric wind : The movement of air relative to Earth’s surface, driven by atmospheric pressure differences and other forces. A balloon usually travels with the wind and steers by choosing winds at different altitudes.
Airship : A powered, steerable lighter-than-air aircraft with a navigable structure and propulsion system. Unlike a typical hot air balloon, it can use propulsion to control horizontal travel.
Propane burner : A combustion device that burns propane to produce a controlled flame and heat. The burner supplies the heat that raises the balloon’s internal air temperature.
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier : A French balloonist who took part in the first untethered human balloon flight in 1783. He became one of the first people to fly in a Montgolfier hot air balloon.
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