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- bnorman, on 03/17/2009, -3/+614"Proving that you don't need Google's billions or the BBC weather centre's resources"
"Under the guidance of teacher Jordi Fanals Oriol, the budding scientists, all aged 18 to 19, followed the progress of their balloon using hi-tech sensors communicating with Google Earth."
So....you DO need Google's billions? - Xiru, on 03/17/2009, -2/+453Daily Mail or not, this is pretty awesome.
- zacharytelschow, on 03/17/2009, -3/+313That's exactly the kind of thing teachers need to push to get kids interested in science. This experiment should be standardized and repeated around the world.
- HaSatan, on 03/17/2009, -24/+247Wow 56 Pounds?? That sounds like a lot of weight for a weather balloon to lift.
/rimshot - slapded, on 03/17/2009, -1/+197I tied a note to a spongebob squarepants balloon once. Never got a reply.
- faraggi, on 03/17/2009, -5/+164"Some people entertain ideas; others put them to work."
Anonymous - IHatePants, on 03/17/2009, -1/+159A friend and I did a similar launch a couple of months ago. We hit over 109,000', and got some amazing pictures and video.
http://icbnn.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/launch/ - UtahApocalyse, on 03/17/2009, -11/+166a person used the images to commit a crime, ballons and cameras too soon be outlawed in the UK
- battleroyalex, on 03/17/2009, -8/+142............................................________
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...................................,<`.._|_,-&``................`\ - christoast, on 03/17/2009, -0/+125That was me who got it and no i will not have sex with you.
- Armor1901, on 03/17/2009, -7/+121Something is missing. It said they only traveled 10km to recover the camera - how the hell does a balloon go 100k feet into the atmosphere, then come back down only 10km away from where it launched? Seems like that balloon would travel (potentially) half way around the world with wind currents and such.
Also, how about recovery? How was the equipment not damanged on its way back down? Parachute, or what?
DailyFail is lacking in critical details. - superfusion, on 03/17/2009, -4/+99I can see Russia from my weather balloon!
- inactive, on 03/17/2009, -2/+84As a kid, I used to make hydrogen balloons, tie cannon fuse to them and launch them and wait for them to explode high in the sky.
They never went that high, but hydrogen balloons go up way faster and higher than helium. They also effuse their gas more quickly.
Exploding hydrogen balloons are actually quite easy to make.
You get an empty wine jug from a gallon of wine or a cider jug. Put zinc in the bottom - zinc powder is best. If you can't find any zinc, you can try grinding up some pennies - they are only copper plated zinc nowadays. Then dump some hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid) that you can get from any plumbing or masonry supply store in it, seal the balloon over the top and VOILA! Explosive hydrogen balloon.
You can get the cannon fuse from a gun store. Tie it to the base of the balloon and wrap it around the knot a few times taping a bit of the fuse to the side of the balloon so you can be sure it will explode nicely. Light it and let it go.
Hydrogen is 4 times lighter than helium, so they go up very fast and when they explode, it is awesome. Scares the hell out of the neighbors as it's totally silent until it blows up in a huge fireball.
Video that shows how to make one with just hydrogen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2tRQz7kz_Q
Add some oxygen to blow up the whole neighborhood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMB2VR0087w
Hint: Wear gloves and SAFETY GLASSES - bodiez, on 03/17/2009, -2/+77AIG does.
- stefanosh, on 03/17/2009, -2/+71Pretty awesome!
I do a similar technique, except mine's not as extreme...I attach the camera to a kite.
Here's some pics if you wanna see:
http://www.pbase.com/alexis/airbegafigo
http://www.pbase.com/alexis/kapdorset - lostsymphonies1, on 03/17/2009, -3/+65ROFL
- ZeroDarkness, on 03/17/2009, -3/+61Damn, that's actually pretty cool. I wish I could have done something like that in school.
- IHatePants, on 03/17/2009, -1/+58Oh, and we were able to stitch together some panoramas from video frames. This is my favorite (warning HUGE picture):
http://johnsoncs.com/icbnn/images/PANORAMA2.JPG - bdiggitty, on 03/17/2009, -1/+57Ha. Until you want to fly somewhere.
- trpnblies7, on 03/17/2009, -1/+42I'm curious as to how the equipment returned safely to the ground without crashing and becoming completely destroyed. Did the balloon only deflate slightly so that the equipment sort of floated back down?
- thedivinelyevil, on 03/17/2009, -1/+40High school vs University
56 pounds vs NASA research grant
you do the math - venomizer, on 03/17/2009, -2/+37I wonder if they needed permission from the aviation authorities?
Sweet experiment though, impressive stuff! - Goshyouidiot, on 03/17/2009, -1/+33I would have loved to be your neighborhood friend back then.
- ukblacknight, on 03/17/2009, -1/+31Please, don't joke, you'll actually give them ideas :(
- battleroyalex, on 03/17/2009, -1/+30the quality of the pictures on the front page has left me blind in one eye
- slapded, on 03/17/2009, -1/+29http://www.sadtrombone.com/
- norman619, on 03/17/2009, -1/+29You can do it now if you like.
- norman619, on 03/17/2009, -1/+27wut?
- TheLD, on 03/17/2009, -1/+27It's not their fault, they are The Daily Mail after all
- Jektal, on 03/17/2009, -1/+26Parachute?
- inactive, on 03/17/2009, -1/+26RALPH
- steven0451, on 03/17/2009, -0/+24Now we just need a 5D Mark II up there to take some sweet HD video. Anyone have that kind of disposable income?
- darlingt, on 03/17/2009, -0/+24Actually, weather balloons routinely travel 100,000 feet up, and they land anywhere from 5 to 1000 km away. On a calm day (and since the UK is in a "dead zone" for upper-level winds), it's not that hard to get it to land close to you. And the NWS here in the US uses parachutes on their balloons.
- davidrools, on 03/17/2009, -3/+25i can't weight to build one myself! but most likely this project will never get off the ground =/
- thedivinelyevil, on 03/17/2009, -0/+22I was thinking the same. While it's an amazing feat for these teenagers, is it legal to let equipment laden balloons off into thin air? Would a cruising jet be affected by a collision with this, however tiny it might be?
Or perhaps they did have permission but it wasn't mentioned in the article. In any case, the many others who have it in their minds to try this now, should keep aviation legalities in mind. - mrzisme, on 03/17/2009, -4/+24The kid in the red shirt is like... "Ok you guys do the science and math stuff, I'll get the weed"
- Zomgondo, on 03/17/2009, -1/+20I had a friend in high school who did the same thing with oxygen and acetylene... the balloons didn't float but they'd rattle windows when they exploded. It was all fun and games until the cops showed up.
- uberduger, on 03/17/2009, -0/+19Ignore this comment, I'm only writing it to bookmark your comment so I can try it. If I tweet about it and somehow involve bacon and fanboyism, I'll make the front page for sure.
- norman619, on 03/17/2009, -0/+18It didn't say the equipment was "undamaged." The article says they recovered the memory card by following the radio transmission which was suprisingly still working.
FTA:
'We travelled 10km to find the sensors and photographic card, which was still emitting its signal, even though it had been exposed to the most extreme conditions.'
Sounds to me like things were in pieces but the most important pieces (sensors, memory card and transmitter) were still in good condition. - ssjtoma, on 03/17/2009, -0/+17wow, the pictures are so much better then in the original post :D should have a how-to section so others can try this out as well :)
- snoconnection, on 03/17/2009, -0/+17and the balloon was about $60. And they had a nice aluminum frame and a servo to turn the camera. They also had something in there to track it on Google Earth. The whole project was a lot more than $80, but still amazing for the pictures they took with such a cheap camera, and where they got the camera to go.
- balaji123, on 03/17/2009, -11/+28A group of students from West Virginia University do this every year and have been for a while. http://www2.cemr.wvu.edu/~satellite.balloon/
- ngmcs8203, on 03/17/2009, -0/+17He isn't: http://tinyurl.com/b53joc
- BassMasterP, on 03/17/2009, -1/+17If you standardize it then kids will despise it. If you push kids towards doing things to get them "interested" in science they'll just shy away.
You can make a kid go to school, but you can't make him learn anything. - Emachine, on 03/17/2009, -0/+16I'm not so sure I want it to rain cheap digital cameras..
- RadiatedAnt, on 03/17/2009, -1/+17you would, you lazy bitch
- ba5e, on 03/17/2009, -2/+16however a 5D's HD video would still have a lower pixel count than the images the Nikon camera caught.....if you are sending up a semi-pro SLR you want to capture photographs at its sensors max resolution not video.
- bundwallah, on 03/17/2009, -0/+14It'd be thoughtless to not consult aviation authorities. I'm sure a small shoebox could do plenty of damage to an airliner cruising at 30K feet. Didn't a few birds force that plane to land in the Hudson afterall? Nonetheless, this is cool as hell. I'd love to be able to do this with a better camera.
- inactive, on 03/17/2009, -3/+17The reason that is funny is because 56 pounds is the British money how expensive the camera was, not English measurement system of how much force gravity has on an object, its weight.
- snurfle, on 03/17/2009, -1/+14No, it was Aluminum.
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