You could use hydrogen, which is less dense than helium. Then if it catches on fire like the Hindenburg you’d already be in the water.
Comment on Horror
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 days agoAbsolutely, but the scale of the balloons is a bit off. Nobody would be walking shoulder to shoulder like this. For a normal-ish 170lb/77kg individual your personal balloon would have to be a little under 6.5 meters across assuming it were filled with helium.
Yes, I did the math.
tyler@programming.dev 4 days ago
perestroika@lemm.ee 2 days ago
It wouldn’t help. The thing that gives you lift is the mass of displaced air. Difference from the (lack of) mass of the lifting gas is minimal.
tyler@programming.dev 2 days ago
It would, but less than the density difference, since you’ve removed weight from the balloon thus gravity has less of a pull on the balloon. My wife (a PE in thermodynamics) was the one that verified that comment before I posted it, hence why I didn’t say it would increase lift by the difference in density.
Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
Note that you wouldn’t need 77 kg worth of bouyancy from the balloon. The shoes would provide some lift, more if you made them out of some type of foam.
match@pawb.social 4 days ago
What if the balloon was rigid and filled with vacuum?
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 days ago
This I am fairly certain we do not have the technology to achieve. Anything vacuum filled that large would need to have walls so thick so as to completely negate any buoyancy effect. I don’t know of any modern material that would simultaneously be rigid, strong, and light enough.
A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Cool sci-fi concept tho
What other sorts of random issues would be solved by this super material
saltnotsugar@lemm.ee 4 days ago
We thank you balloon master!
afronaut@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
What if the balloons were long and vertical like the ones in Dune? That could allow them to walk closer to one another.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I addressed that in another comment here. The long and short of it (very long, as it happens) is that the volume you’d need is still the same. So your elongated balloon would have to be well beyond what most people would consider to be ridiculously tall. 325.5 meters tall, in fact, given the 0.75 meter diameter I assumed to start with. I figure most people could probably stand in a 0.75m circle provided they didn’t wave their arms around a bunch.
Cruxifux@feddit.nl 4 days ago
Ok but hear me out
One really BIG balloon with rope systems you could hook on to so multiple people could walk around under the same balloon area.
Hoimo@ani.social 3 days ago
If everyone is connected to the same balloon anyway, you could even do without the balloon and build a structure over the water to hang your ropes from.
BootyBuccaneer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Revolutionary. I hear hot air is really good for inflating things. I wonder if you could use some sort of flame thrower to keep the balloon afloat.
Cruxifux@feddit.nl 3 days ago
Zeppelin skating. In the air. We should start this business.
Are we…
Are we doing this right now, BootyBuccaneer?
BootyBuccaneer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
Fuck it I’m in. What could I possibly lose besides a couple limbs and my life savings.
afronaut@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Hope that lake doesn’t have any breezes or gusts.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 4 days ago
You did the basic math, with your spherical balloon. What about giant cylinders? Then you could really pack it in.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Sure. You could do a cylinder of three quarters of a meter across which seems like a reasonable footprint for someone to stand in. That’d only have to be, uh, 325.5 meters tall to have the same volume.
rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 4 days ago
I fail to see the problem.
ReanuKeeves@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Your asshole “buddy” constantly throwing sharp objects at balloon causing you to be wet all the time and laughing as you ask your mom if she can mend your massive cylinder for the 13th time this month
WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 4 days ago
You could use spherical balloons with really long, but different length, strings for each person. Of course you’d have to avoid tangling your balloons together while walking around like that and given wind can vary with elevation…