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Exploring Balloon Aircraft: A Quiz on History and Science

Test your knowledge on the history and science of balloon aircraft with this engaging quiz. Explore various aspects of ballooning, including materials, historical events, and the science behind buoyancy.

#Ballooning #Aviation #History #Science #Buoyancy #Hydrogen

1 ________ - used infrequently due to its caustic qualities and limited lift.

2 ________ obtain their buoyancy by heating the air inside the balloon.

3 For example, the ________ (which are best seen from the air) allegedly presuppose some form of manned flight, such as a balloon.

4 The ________ also made use of balloons, but they were gravely hampered by supplies due to the embargoes.

5 Eventually hydrogen gas generators, a compact system of tanks and ________ plumbing, were constructed which converted the combining of iron filings and sulfuric acid to hydrogen.

6 ________ - used in the early days of ballooning; it is highly flammable.

7 General Irvin McDowell, commander of the ________, realized their value in aerial reconnaissance and had Lowe, who at the time was using his personal balloon the Enterprise, called up to the First Battle of Bull Run.

8 Although hydrogen has more lifting power, it is explosive in an atmosphere rich in ________.

9 In the 19th century, it was common to use ________ to fill balloons; it was not as light as pure hydrogen gas, but was much cheaper and readily available.

10 The flight started in ________ and reached a height of 500 feet or so.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • in 1950 former record-setting balloonist Thomas G. W. Settle was assigned to perform a nuclear test in the Aleutian islands.
  • the first airmail of the United States was a personal letter from George Washington carried on an aerial balloon flight from Philadelphia by Jean Pierre Blanchard.
  • the world's first air force, the French Aerostatic Corps, was founded in 1794 and used balloons (pictured) for reconnaissance.
  • in 1897, a Texas farmer discovered a UFO landed on his property: an airship operated by United States Army engineer Samuel Escue Tillman and inventor Amos Dolbear.
  • Jeannette Piccard piloted a hydrogen balloon to the stratosphere for Jean Piccard, likely namesake of Captain Picard of Star Trek.
  • Citoyenne Henri (illustration pictured) was only allowed to take a balloon trip with Andre-Jacques Garnerin after it was ruled that "there was no more scandal in seeing two people of different sexes ascend in a balloon than it is to see them jump into a carriage".
  • Clayton, West Virginia, was named after a balloonist from Cincinnati who landed in the community after a record-setting 300-mile (480 km) flight in 1835.
  • balloonist Sophie Blanchard (pictured) was Napoleon's Chief Air Minister of Ballooning, and was named "Official Aeronaut of the Restoration" by Louis XVIII of France.
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