Answer expected - purely technical
2007-03-12 16:27:15 · 7 answers · asked by Shirish P 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
To what height?
Mythbusters (a show on discovery channel) did it with helium filled but had it tethered so they would not fly away.
However it is not practical, there is a limit to the flight. If the balloon is made of a material too thin or if the balloon is not properly filled, when it reaches the upper atmosphere it can burst under the pressure difference.
And to be purely technical, "green_earth_froggy" is wrong, adding a ton of balloons will make you weigh a ton. (Yes I understand metaphors)
2007-03-12 16:29:59 · answer #1 · answered by Beef 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hehehe. Everybody talks about 'Mythbusters', but there actually *was* some moron in Cerritos (close to Los Angeles) who actually *did* do just that (back in the 80's, IIRC) with a bunch of small weather balloons, a bottle of helium (which you can get at any party supplies store), and a lawn chair. Not only that, he had an ice chest full of beer and a pellet gun with which he proposed to shoot a few of the balloons so that he could come down.
Just one kinda small hitch. Cerritos is *directly* in the approach corridor to Los Angeles International Airport. After several hours of playing merry hell with LAX's traffic, the breeze finally blew him out over the water and he actually *did* make it down in one piece by shooting out a couple of the balloons. And the Coast Guard was waiting for him and he was prosecuted on a couple hundred different charges (operating an airship in unauthorized airspace, operating an airship without a license, operating an airship while under the influence, disrupting air traffic inside controlled airspace, and a few dozen others)
I was living out there at the time and it was *all* over the news. Kinda funny since, fortunately, it didn't turn into a tragedy and bring down an airplane full of passengers in downtown LA.
Doug
2007-03-12 17:49:56 · answer #2 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mythbusters did this and confirmed the myth. Adam Savage went up in the MythBuster's rig, which was a lawn chair with 16 plastic weather balloons attached, and went up to the maximum height that could be obtained with the safety ropes attached, 75 feet (22.5 m). He safely descended by shooting out some of the balloons. The actual event behind the myth was verified by documents provided by the FAA.
2007-03-12 16:36:10 · answer #3 · answered by d_khar 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Myth Busters did it once and it to TONS yes A TON of balloons to lift a little girl. So i guess if you had A TON A TON of balloons you could do it
2007-03-12 16:30:28 · answer #4 · answered by ʚϊɞ Krysti ʚϊɞ 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yes on mythbuster's---"MYTH CONFIRMED" Adam used it to float in a deck chair.
2007-03-12 16:36:37 · answer #5 · answered by Killer Klingon 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I remember the guy with the lounge chair, beer, and BB gun.
2007-03-12 19:33:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes it can. they did it on mythbusters. you can probably see video of it on Youtube.
2007-03-12 16:29:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋