Thread: What to do with some balloons, and an old cortina...

Somehow it doesn't look like enough baloons.

Helium can lift about 1.1 grams per litre. (Remember the magic number 22.4 litres per mole at STP.) To lift 1000 Kg it would take over 900,000 litres of Helium. Even if each baloon was capable of holding 4 litres that would be close to 250,000 baloons.

All good fun until some gets a early model Cortina on their picnic basket

Originally Posted by rrich

Somehow it doesn't look like enough baloons.

That's what I reckon.

There was a movie about a guy who connected a heap of baloons to a plastic chair, and took off. I wonder if anyone in real life has done that

Have a look at the next couple of vids on Youtube.
They show the crane in place and the full production crew.

Originally Posted by AV Elec

There was a movie about a guy who connected a heap of baloons to a plastic chair, and took off. I wonder if anyone in real life has done that

Actually, that one is quite true. Some idiot in Long Beach, California attached several weather baloons to a lawn chair. Commercial aircraft pilots reported him to our FAA as the chair was passing through 11,000 feet. The idiot brought a air gun with him and used it to shoot the baloons so that he could descend. He was fined $4000 by the FAA for his antics.

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q...&sp-m=1&sp-s=0

Mythbusters did that one.

Originally Posted by

Mythbusters did that one.

Also but didn't go much over 20-30 m.

Yep.