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Balloons and airships

Hot-air balloons and airships: how they work, the Hindenburg disaster and what the aeroplane changed. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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How a balloon flies

  • Passengers stand in a basket under the balloon. The burner (with propane gas) heats the air to rise; let the air cool to come down.
  • The Montgolfiers burned straw and wool. A balloon cannot be steered; the pilot finds winds at different heights.
  • Flights are early in the morning, when the wind is calm and the air cool. Today for fun, like over the Magaliesberg; weather balloons carry measuring instruments.
A hot-air balloon and an airship.
A hot-air balloon and an airship.
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Airships

Airships were cigar-shaped to move easily through the air, with bags of lighter-than-air gas inside a large frame. Engines made them better than balloons. Today they are sometimes used for advertising and filming. During the siege of Paris in 1870 balloons carried letters and people over the enemy. People first flew more than 240 years ago.

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Modern air transport

  • Jet aeroplanes (since the 1950s) carry hundreds of passengers quickly over long distances; cargo planes carry goods.
  • A helicopter can take off straight up and land in small spaces, so it is used for rescues and to take patients to hospital.
  • South Africa’s busiest airport is O.R. Tambo International, near Johannesburg.
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Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • In 1783 the Montgolfier brothers flew hot-air balloons in France. The first passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster (September 1783). Two months later, in November 1783, two men made the first balloon flight with people.
  • A hot-air balloon rises because hot air is lighter than the cooler air around it.
  • An airship is a gas balloon with engines that can be steered; zeppelins are named after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
  • The Hindenburg caught fire in 1937: it was full of hydrogen. Today we use safe helium.
  • The aeroplane replaced airships for long passenger journeys.

Write these points in your book. Read them again the night before the test.

Memory trick

Hot air rises, like steam from a kettle. Hydrogen burns; helium does not burn.

Flash cards · Tap to turn over

Important words

First say what the word means, then turn the card over.

Test yourself · Part 2

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