Hey, smarty pants, you'll never believe where I am right now.
Here are some quick hints for anyone who hasn't read the name of the episode.
First, I launched from a big open field.
Then, I floated up into the air, higher than the trees, but lower than the airplanes.
About to where birds fly. Right now, the wind is pushing us along. as I take in a truly amazing 360-degree view.
So what am I doing? I heard someone say, hang gliding?
Good guess, but... And no, I'm not wearing a jet pack.
If you said I'm in a hot air balloon, you're right.
This is my first time being up in one, and I gotta say, it feels like I'm literally floating on air.
That's because you are. Ah, good point. Smarty Pants, say hi to my friend and balloon pilot, Vicky.
Hey, Smarty Pants. Glad you could come ballooning with us today.
Although, I'm glad you're not all physically in the balloon with us.
That would be way too heavy. Another good point.
Vicky belongs to a balloon club with about 100 members who go ballooning around once or twice a month.
She knows as much about ballooning as I do about eating pizza for lunch.
Hmm. What was that strange noise? That was my stomach.
Anytime I mention pizza and lunch, I get hungry.
Any chance we'll be landing soon? Yes. We're actually flying to an even bigger field about 10 miles away.
There, we'll meet up with my club and about 20 other hot air balloons.
Sweet. And how long does it take a hot air balloon to go 10 miles?
I'm asking for my stomach. Well, a hot air balloon will only go as fast as the wind is blowing, and that varies from lower and higher altitudes.
But generally, we'll float about 8 to 10 miles per hour.
Great. That gives us plenty of time to find out the answers to some questions about hot air ballooning.
Like, when was ballooning first invented?
How does a hot air balloon work? What's the highest altitude a hot air balloon has reached?
And can you actually travel around the world in one?
Are you formally challenging me to undertake a journey around the world in 80 days?
I say this is absurd. Get ready for a wild ride as we take to the skies for another whiff of science and history on... Who's Smarted?
Who's Smarted? Who's Smart? Is it you? Is it me?
Is it science? Or history? Listen up! Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on Who Smarted.
Who Smarted is sponsored by BetterHelp. Trusty narrator here.
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All right, Vicki, I'd say most of the smarty pants listening know that the very first airplane flight took place in 1903 by brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
And if you didn't know that, smarty pants, you can hear all about it on our Who Smarted episode on airplanes.
But who invented the hot air balloon and when?
Coincidentally, the first hot air balloon was also invented by two brothers, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier.
Only they lived in Paris, France. They were paper makers who began experimenting with making paper bags float.
They noticed that when they held a large, lightweight paper bag upside down over a fire...
The hot air from the fire would eventually fill the inside of the bag and cause it to rise upwards.
Ah, why is that, Smarty Pants? Is it because warm air rises or because paper bags are afraid of fire?
Of course, it's because warm air rises. Exactly.
How high did their bag float up? Their first test run rose to a height of about 75 feet.
Wow, that's as tall as a seven-story building or 10 LeBron James.
When did this happen? Let's see if the smarty pants can guess.
Was it the 1600s, the 1700s, or the 1800s?
If you said the 1700s, good job. 1782 to be exact, and things moved quickly from that point on.
The following year, the Montgolfier brothers would construct a much larger version of their experiment, this time using silken paper.
The new balloon was attached to a circular platform and two men stood on the platform as air was heated and the balloon lifted into the sky.
Sounds dangerous. It wasn't the safest. How high and far did they go?
They reached an altitude of 500 feet and traveled about five miles, landing safely in a vineyard about a half hour later.
From there, ballooning was born. Incredible.
Indeed. Trusty, you ready to go up a bit higher so we can catch more wind and go faster?
My brain says we're high enough, but my stomach says faster.
So when did ballooning first come to America?
The first balloon flight to take place in America happened in 1793.
That one was filled using hydrogen gas and piloted by Jean-Pierre Blanchard.
He took off from Philadelphia, rising up to nearly 6,000 feet, with the launch observed by none other than George Washington himself.
I sure could have used that to cross the Delaware.
Hey, trusty, would you like to take a turn filling the envelope?
The envelope? Are we mailing a letter? No.
The fabric portion of a balloon that gets filled with hot air is known as the envelope.
Some pilots call it the bag. I see. A hot air balloon actually consists of several components.
The envelope is the big balloon part. Due to its enormous size, it's the most recognized.
What materials are envelopes made from? The majority are made from nylon or dacron, which is a polyester, a synthetic or human-made material that's similar to a parachute.
If you look straight up into the balloon, you'll see it's constructed using long panels that are sewn together.
With each seam running from the crown or top of the envelope all the way down to an opening known as the mouth.
And what's the heating unit called that supplies the hot air?
That is the burner. It basically gasifies liquid propane.
Ah, smarty pants. Do you know anything that uses propane?
If you use a gas grill to barbecue, chances are you're burning propane.
The burner unit mixes the propane with air.
Ignites the mixture... and directs the flame and its gas into the mouth of the balloon at the bottom of the envelope.
I see you have several fuel tanks with hoses running to the burner unit.
Yes. The size of the envelope and the amount of weight it needs to carry determines how many fuel tanks will be loaded and secured to the gondola.
Ah, smarty pants. Do you know what the gondola section of a hot air balloon is?
Why, it's the basket underneath, the part that Vicky and I are standing in.
Most gondolas are made of woven wicker or rattan.
Those materials are perfect because they're both lightweight and strong.
How many people can safely go up in a hot air balloon at once?
Well, the basket on this balloon is outfitted to hold four or five people.
But believe it or not, there are some which are designed to hold 25 to 30 people.
Wow, that's a lot of people. Yep. Usually you find those giant balloons in resort areas where tourists can take balloon rides over areas of great interest and beauty.
For example, you can fly above the Serengeti in a balloon in order to observe the wildlife below without disturbing them.
Oh, it must be incredible to watch zebras, giraffes, elephants, and rhinos from a hot air balloon.
Another popular spot to balloon is a region called Cappadocia. which is in the country of Turkey, due to erosion, the hundreds of tall cone-shaped rock formations that look like chimneys in a make-believe fairyland.
That sounds cool, too. Closer to home, I've made several trips to places like Sedona, Arizona to view the spectacular Red Rocks.
I've also participated in the International Balloon Fiesta held in Albuquerque, New Mexico each October, where hundreds of balloonists take to the air simultaneously and hold races over the course of a week.
That also sounds fun. Okay, trusty. Hold on to the railing while I release some air from the envelope.
Release some air? But won't that deflate the balloon?
Why would you want to do that? Wait, don't tell me.
At least until after this quick break. Hey, Smarty Pants, Trusty here.
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Now back to WhoSmarted. So what was that about releasing some air?
I have to release some air in order for us to begin our descent.
You don't want to stay up here all day, do you?
No, definitely not. So how do you release air without just, ahem, crashing?
It's simple. I pull this cord, which is attached to a circular flap of fabric at the top of the envelope.
This flap is called a parachute vent. Venting is what we call the process of releasing air in order to go down.
Sweet. So, to recap how it works. When we were on the ground before takeoff, the balloon, or envelope, was filled.
But the air temperature inside the envelope was the same as the surrounding air, so we just sat there on the ground.
But once you began adding heat into the envelope from the burner, the molecules inside the heated air began to move faster and spread out, causing the envelope to rise.
Exactly, trusty. Well done. Thanks. So how high up can a hot air balloon go?
And how high do you usually fly? Hot air balloons typically float through the sky between 1,000 and 3,000 feet.
Okay, that's pretty high, but not too crazy.
But what's the highest a hot air balloon has ever gone?
Smarty Pants, care to take a guess what the current record is for highest altitude for a hot air balloon?
Is it closer to 10,000 feet, 20,000 feet, 50,000 feet, or 70,000 feet?
If you said closer to 70,000 feet or a little over 21 kilometers, you're right.
70,000 feet? That's over twice the height of Mount Everest.
How could he even breathe? I know, it's crazy, right?
Vijaypat Singhania went up 68,986 feet. Whoa.
He launched from Bombay, India and landed about 150 miles away.
Oh, and he wore an oxygen mask and a heavy coat.
Amazing. And what about the idea that you could travel around the world, like in the movie Around the World in 80 Days?
Could that be true? What do you think, smarty pants?
The answer is true and false. The true part is you can go circumnavigate or circle the world in a hot air balloon.
Bertrand Picard, a Swiss psychiatrist, did it in 1999 along with a British balloon instructor named Brian Jones.
The false part is the 80 days. They actually traveled around the globe nonstop without refueling in only 20 days.
Woohoo! Amazing. Ooh, I see the field where your friends are waiting with their inflated balloons.
I mean, envelopes. Yep. We're coming in for a landing.
My friends on the ground will help us out by tethering or tying our rig down.
You mind tossing those ropes over the edge as we get close to the ground?
I'm on it. Great job, trustee. Hey, you trying to go back up?
Oh, no. I was just using the burner to reheat my pizza lunch.
A high-flying shout-out to Huxley in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
According to your message, you like learning new things and think that the trusty narrator is funny.
Well, I'm not going to argue with you on that.
Thanks for smarting with us, buddy. This episode, Hot Air Balloons, was written by Dave Davis and voiced by Charlotte Cohn, Adam Tex-Davis, and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Who Smarted? is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski. The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
