Message In A Balloon
Solar-powered balloons
Solar balloon is made from thin black plastic film. When filled with air on a sunny day, the sun starts heating up the air inside the balloon. Warm air is lighter than surrounding colder air and balloon starts to rise.
Solar balloons can be made from ordinary thrash bags, taped together to form a shape capable of holding enough air inside to produce lift. We usually make our balloons as tetrahedrons, to minimize number of seems that need to be taped.
Solar balloons can rise to over 20 000 meters of altitude, and stay in the air as long as the sun is heating the balloon up. To see how far a balloon can fly in a day, we attach a postcard with date and location of launch, and then let the balloon loose on a sunny morning.
If you found one of our balloons, please let us know where and when it landed!
