You may have seen a hot air balloon soars up into the sky, leaving behind only a cloud of dust. How does it do that? There must be some kind of magic or science involved. It’s not as easy as it looks like. In this blog post, we will look at how exactly hot air balloons fly. First things first: How does a hot air balloon work? A hot air balloon is an aircraft that can fly because it is lighter than air. As its name suggests, the main component of a hot air balloon is heated air, which means that the gas will expand and become lighter than the surrounding atmosphere, thereby lifting the balloon up into the sky. If you want to know more details about how hot air balloons work, keep reading!

How hot air balloons fly – a step by step guide

A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft. It is a basket or gondola suspended below a bag (the fabric envelope) containing a large quantity of heated air. As the heated air inside the bag is less dense than the colder air outside the bag, the balloon rises. The first recorded ascent of a hot air balloon was by the French brothers Joseph-André and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier on November 21, 1783, in Annonay, France. The hot air balloon is not steered like an aircraft but is instead steered by changing the direction of the relative wind. This can be achieved by having the wind blowing across the open end of the balloon or by having the balloon travel horizontally into the wind where it is then turned to create a back wind that pushes the balloon back in the opposite direction.

Hot air balloons are heavier than air

The biggest mistake people make is assuming that balloons are lighter than air. They’re not. In fact, a balloon (in its inflated state) is actually quite a lot heavier than air. When you inflate a balloon, you’re not adding any extra gas molecules to the surrounding atmosphere – you’re simply expanding the volume of the gas molecules that were there already. As a result, a hot air balloon is heavier than air. If you want to know more details about how hot air balloons work, keep reading! However, this doesn’t mean that balloons can’t fly. In fact, the fact that a balloon is heavier than air is actually the reason why it can fly. If the surrounding atmosphere is more dense than the balloon, it will be able to support the balloon’s weight by pressing it against the ground.

Backing winds and up-drafts

Back winds and updrafts are what make hot air balloons possible in the first place. If you’re flying a hot air balloon, you don’t actually have to heat up the air inside the balloon – you just have to pump some air into the balloon and let the surrounding winds do the rest. If there is a flow of air moving past the balloon, then this flow will be deflected around it and create a low pressure zone above the balloon. The surrounding air molecules will therefore be drawn into the low pressure zone above the balloon and expand to fill the area. The balloon will be pushed upwards as a result of the extra air molecules being above it.

Conclusion

Finally, we discussed how hot air balloons fly. A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft. It is a basket or gondola suspended below a bag (the fabric envelope) containing a large quantity of heated air. As the heated air inside the bag is less dense than the colder air outside the bag, the balloon rises. A hot air balloon is not steered like an aircraft but is instead steered by changing the direction of the relative wind. This can be achieved by having the wind blowing across the open end of the balloon or by having the balloon travel horizontally into the wind where it is then turned to create a back wind that pushes the balloon back in the opposite direction.