I loved the history lesson. I got my lighter than air license in 1976 becoming the first licensed female pilot in Kansas. I had many years of adventures, training other pilots and years of The Fiesta in Albuquerque!
Great article. I always wondered how early scientists/engineers made hydrogen. I want to know more now. How did they even detect it in the 1st place?
Why does acid on metal produce it?
How was it “trapped” and filtered from other gases?
How was it transferred into a gas bag without significant contamination from surrounding gases?
My favorite adventure stories were always Jules Verne and my favorite memory was the 1956 movie version of “Around the World in 80 Days” with the ballon ride part. I know the book doesn’t have Fogg in a balloon but that doesn’t matter. To a young boy growing up, I could understand balloons and LTA tech far easier than what the Wright brothers did. 😂
Aug 19, 2023·edited Aug 19, 2023Liked by George Dillard
Metal and acid….(nerdiness alert—stop reading now unless you really want to know):
All acids contain hydrogen. In fact, molecules that have loosely bound hydrogen are acids.*
There is a table showing what is called electromotive force. Hydrogen is more or less in the middle. Elements above hydrogen will displace it. Iron, for example, is more active than hydrogen, so it will displace hydrogen. So: if you start out with iron metal and mix it with, say, sulfuric acid, you will get hydrogen gas and iron sulfate.
At the time, that was probably the most efficient way to do it. There was plenty metal and plenty acid. Hydrogen, though, is hard to handle and certainly presented significant challenges at the time.
Nowadays, more efficient would be by electrolyzing water. Put a little salt in the water (or just get some seawater) and run electric current through it. The cathode will be the site where oxygen** forms while hydrogen bubbles around the anode. More current = faster gas accumulation.
As an aside, let me suggest a modern day experiment that everyone can do. Go to the store and buy a helium balloon. Take it to your car and tether it so it can’t reach the car ceiling. Roll up the windows and turn off the air conditioner or heater. Start driving. Notice how the balloon moves as you 1) accelerate, 2) brake, and 3) turn. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t go where you think it should go. Why?
* As an aside, the German word for hydrogen is sauerstoff—sour stuff—and acids are what makes our foods, well, sour. Think: pickles—that would be acetic acid. Lemons? Citric acid. All acids that dissolve in water taste sour. You can dilute sulfuric acid and it would taste sour. It also usually tastes sulfur-y, which is probably why it isn’t usually used for flavoring….
** And oxygen is called wasserstoff—water stuff. Water is H2O—one atom of oxygen bound to two atoms of hydrogen.
Full disclosure, my dad was a blimp pilot in WW2 out of Lakehurst, NJ…always been fascinated by LTA
Thank you! Great explanation for duder’s brain here 😃
That makes sense. The hydrogen is cracked off the acid easier than by electrolysis (which was non existent back then anyway)
Still wonder how they knew of its existence in the 1st place. I mean it’s not like there were pockets of hydrogen just laying around and by the articles own admission, they didn’t even know the difference between ash and the heated gases it was floating on. 🤷♂️ A leap was made somewhere and that interests me too.
I remember vaguely that D2O (heavy water) is a byproduct of electrolyzing water for hydrogen production. Not sure about helium though, I think that is more complicated.
Love the German language words. I lived in Basel, CH for a few years and always laughed at how descriptive the words were.
Great comments, Eric. Someone had to be very perceptive to figure a lot of this stuff out--in the 1700s, yet! Lavoisier was the guy who figured out oxygen without knowing what it actually is. Something got burned out of air that made candles go out. If you also had a mouse in the bell jar, he died, not from being cooked, but from suffocation. He called the stuff "phlogiston" and what was left after the candle went out was "dephlogisticated air." Bad luck about the mouse, though.
D2O occurs in tiny quantities. It's not made electrolyzing water--it takes a nuclear reaction for deuterium (one proton + one neutron) to form. I suspect it gets concentrated now by fractional distillation. Things have gotten good enough that deuterated chemicals aren't all that pricey now, but at one time, it was very labor intensive to get it.
Helium, on the other hand, is pretty much made by radioactive decay of heavier radioactive elements emitting alpha particles, which are actually helium nuclei.
As for funnylongwords, konzentrationsprüng meant a jump in concentration. (I was a chemist before I went to med school.) And in German chess, the symbol for the knight is "S"--springer.
The great airships. I've seen many pictures from passenger transport to military use. If you had any pictures of the military blimps from that Era I would love to see them.
I will look but sadly, my dad was not big on pictures or mementos. I remember him and my Uncle John (not my real uncle, just my dad’s best friend they served together on the blimps), used to take us to Lakehurst and told us stories. One I remember well was their method for leak detection was to have one of them always outside the cabin and they would talk to each other constantly over the radio. If either of them started sounding like a chipmunk they knew they had a leak!! 😂 like most things back then, crude but effective
For my grandmother’s 75th birthday we took her on a balloon ride (at her request.) It was honestly magical and wildly exciting-- we almost came down in a creek! It’s easy to see why it became such an obsession when invented.
Love the images provided, Thank you! I have a small collection of "old world" balloon items but had not seen the Passarola design before. That one would be something to look into again maybe combining with hovercraft technology, I just know I want one!
Love this! Many years ago, i looked into a similar period of airship mania in the U.S. many years later. There really is something about *floating* that is different from powered flight.
So fascinating. My grandfather x 5 was a daredevil aeronaut in England in the 19th century - crossed the channel, rode a horse into the sky, let off fireworks from it. Truly incredible brave feats of madness.
Was a video camera man working for Coors when they sponsored their own balloon and had the opportunity to spend many hours in the air, including the fabulous Albuquerque balloon festival. Launching was a treat, landing always an adventure, especially with a heavy video camera on my shoulder. Each time we’d go through the rather ungraceful landings, our pilot would sardonically comment: “Defied death one more time.”
Very interesting and entertaining article. It’s amazing how similar people reacted to the new and innovative. It’s exciting to share the excitement people must have felt in the 1700s over this new technology. One can share in their wonder but learning more about the details of the first aeronauts. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your work, I enjoyed the reading. I found myself intrigued so much my eyes were reading faster than my brain could follow. I appreciated your research and the artwork was helpful and fun to see.
I learned A LOT without realizing it. I felt like I was eavesdropping on a conversation, not in a lecture hall. I had fun Imaging the different designs.
I've only read three pieces on SubStack as I just came on. (I've been reading Alex Berenson for a while and he led me here).
I haven't quite figured out how to navigate SubStack and I hope I stumble on to many more stories like yours that make me happy I read them.
I am working in Paris, on the very ground the first manned flight took place, the chateau de La Muette gardens. Now it is where the OECD has its headquarters. Funny story, it is also where Parmentier grown the first potatoes for human consumption in France.
I loved the history lesson. I got my lighter than air license in 1976 becoming the first licensed female pilot in Kansas. I had many years of adventures, training other pilots and years of The Fiesta in Albuquerque!
Great article. I always wondered how early scientists/engineers made hydrogen. I want to know more now. How did they even detect it in the 1st place?
Why does acid on metal produce it?
How was it “trapped” and filtered from other gases?
How was it transferred into a gas bag without significant contamination from surrounding gases?
My favorite adventure stories were always Jules Verne and my favorite memory was the 1956 movie version of “Around the World in 80 Days” with the ballon ride part. I know the book doesn’t have Fogg in a balloon but that doesn’t matter. To a young boy growing up, I could understand balloons and LTA tech far easier than what the Wright brothers did. 😂
Metal and acid….(nerdiness alert—stop reading now unless you really want to know):
All acids contain hydrogen. In fact, molecules that have loosely bound hydrogen are acids.*
There is a table showing what is called electromotive force. Hydrogen is more or less in the middle. Elements above hydrogen will displace it. Iron, for example, is more active than hydrogen, so it will displace hydrogen. So: if you start out with iron metal and mix it with, say, sulfuric acid, you will get hydrogen gas and iron sulfate.
At the time, that was probably the most efficient way to do it. There was plenty metal and plenty acid. Hydrogen, though, is hard to handle and certainly presented significant challenges at the time.
Nowadays, more efficient would be by electrolyzing water. Put a little salt in the water (or just get some seawater) and run electric current through it. The cathode will be the site where oxygen** forms while hydrogen bubbles around the anode. More current = faster gas accumulation.
As an aside, let me suggest a modern day experiment that everyone can do. Go to the store and buy a helium balloon. Take it to your car and tether it so it can’t reach the car ceiling. Roll up the windows and turn off the air conditioner or heater. Start driving. Notice how the balloon moves as you 1) accelerate, 2) brake, and 3) turn. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t go where you think it should go. Why?
* As an aside, the German word for hydrogen is sauerstoff—sour stuff—and acids are what makes our foods, well, sour. Think: pickles—that would be acetic acid. Lemons? Citric acid. All acids that dissolve in water taste sour. You can dilute sulfuric acid and it would taste sour. It also usually tastes sulfur-y, which is probably why it isn’t usually used for flavoring….
** And oxygen is called wasserstoff—water stuff. Water is H2O—one atom of oxygen bound to two atoms of hydrogen.
Full disclosure, my dad was a blimp pilot in WW2 out of Lakehurst, NJ…always been fascinated by LTA
Thank you! Great explanation for duder’s brain here 😃
That makes sense. The hydrogen is cracked off the acid easier than by electrolysis (which was non existent back then anyway)
Still wonder how they knew of its existence in the 1st place. I mean it’s not like there were pockets of hydrogen just laying around and by the articles own admission, they didn’t even know the difference between ash and the heated gases it was floating on. 🤷♂️ A leap was made somewhere and that interests me too.
I remember vaguely that D2O (heavy water) is a byproduct of electrolyzing water for hydrogen production. Not sure about helium though, I think that is more complicated.
Love the German language words. I lived in Basel, CH for a few years and always laughed at how descriptive the words were.
Pork = Schweinefleisch (Swine Flesh)
Washing Machine = Wäschetrockner (tumble drying contraption)
Fizzy water = mit gas (with gas)
😃
Great comments, Eric. Someone had to be very perceptive to figure a lot of this stuff out--in the 1700s, yet! Lavoisier was the guy who figured out oxygen without knowing what it actually is. Something got burned out of air that made candles go out. If you also had a mouse in the bell jar, he died, not from being cooked, but from suffocation. He called the stuff "phlogiston" and what was left after the candle went out was "dephlogisticated air." Bad luck about the mouse, though.
D2O occurs in tiny quantities. It's not made electrolyzing water--it takes a nuclear reaction for deuterium (one proton + one neutron) to form. I suspect it gets concentrated now by fractional distillation. Things have gotten good enough that deuterated chemicals aren't all that pricey now, but at one time, it was very labor intensive to get it.
Helium, on the other hand, is pretty much made by radioactive decay of heavier radioactive elements emitting alpha particles, which are actually helium nuclei.
As for funnylongwords, konzentrationsprüng meant a jump in concentration. (I was a chemist before I went to med school.) And in German chess, the symbol for the knight is "S"--springer.
The great airships. I've seen many pictures from passenger transport to military use. If you had any pictures of the military blimps from that Era I would love to see them.
I will look but sadly, my dad was not big on pictures or mementos. I remember him and my Uncle John (not my real uncle, just my dad’s best friend they served together on the blimps), used to take us to Lakehurst and told us stories. One I remember well was their method for leak detection was to have one of them always outside the cabin and they would talk to each other constantly over the radio. If either of them started sounding like a chipmunk they knew they had a leak!! 😂 like most things back then, crude but effective
😁😁
Sorry, you got the names exactly backwards.
Ah--so I did!
Thanks.
Which names are backwards?
Sauerstoff and Wasserstoff
For my grandmother’s 75th birthday we took her on a balloon ride (at her request.) It was honestly magical and wildly exciting-- we almost came down in a creek! It’s easy to see why it became such an obsession when invented.
Great read 🎈
Great piece wow !!!
Lovely piece. There’s a street in Manchester called Balloon Street after the first flight in the city by James Sadler in 1785.
https://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/511/conservation_areas/1110/shudehill_conservation_area/2#:~:text=In%201785%20James%20Sadler%20made,until%20its%20demolition%20in%201980.
Love the images provided, Thank you! I have a small collection of "old world" balloon items but had not seen the Passarola design before. That one would be something to look into again maybe combining with hovercraft technology, I just know I want one!
https://balloonfiesta.com
And it's still popular here 😍
Superb, a lovely essay!
Thanks!
Love this! Many years ago, i looked into a similar period of airship mania in the U.S. many years later. There really is something about *floating* that is different from powered flight.
Thanks -- means a lot, especially coming from you! I've long been a fan of your work.
So fascinating. My grandfather x 5 was a daredevil aeronaut in England in the 19th century - crossed the channel, rode a horse into the sky, let off fireworks from it. Truly incredible brave feats of madness.
Fascinating!
Was a video camera man working for Coors when they sponsored their own balloon and had the opportunity to spend many hours in the air, including the fabulous Albuquerque balloon festival. Launching was a treat, landing always an adventure, especially with a heavy video camera on my shoulder. Each time we’d go through the rather ungraceful landings, our pilot would sardonically comment: “Defied death one more time.”
Yep, the romantic imagery of ballooning definitely doesn't include the bumpy landings
This is a cool article- I actually work with RE/MAX and the hot air balloon is our symbol and icon.
Very interesting and entertaining article. It’s amazing how similar people reacted to the new and innovative. It’s exciting to share the excitement people must have felt in the 1700s over this new technology. One can share in their wonder but learning more about the details of the first aeronauts. Thank you!
Thank you for reading!
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your work, I enjoyed the reading. I found myself intrigued so much my eyes were reading faster than my brain could follow. I appreciated your research and the artwork was helpful and fun to see.
I learned A LOT without realizing it. I felt like I was eavesdropping on a conversation, not in a lecture hall. I had fun Imaging the different designs.
I've only read three pieces on SubStack as I just came on. (I've been reading Alex Berenson for a while and he led me here).
I haven't quite figured out how to navigate SubStack and I hope I stumble on to many more stories like yours that make me happy I read them.
Thanks for reading!
I am working in Paris, on the very ground the first manned flight took place, the chateau de La Muette gardens. Now it is where the OECD has its headquarters. Funny story, it is also where Parmentier grown the first potatoes for human consumption in France.
I had no idea! Thanks for sharing...
What a great presentation of hot air balloons! I really enjoyed your article!
Thank you.