Hot air balloons & Charles
- One of Charles famous contribution is ballooning. With the Robert brothers, Nicolas and Anne-Jean, he built the first hydrogen balloon, in 1783. He was the first to use hydrogen instead of hot air, in an aeronautical balloon. He designed the balloon really well, that there have been only few changes in over 200 years of ballooning.
- The balloon worked like this: hot air rises thanks to buoyancy, that is the tendency to float in air or water. For example, if you put something heavier than water in a pool, it will sink. However, if you put something lighter than water in a pool, it will float.
- Air balloons work the same as water. If you have something heavier than air, it will “sink”. If you have something lighter than air, it will “float”, making the balloon ascend.
- He also created the hydrometer, this invention consists in measuring the specific gravitity or relative density of liquids.
- Another thing he did was to improve the aerometer. An aerometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure the weight and density of a gas or a liquid. It is a hollow tube, widened at the bottom where a weight is placed. A scale is on the top part of the rod. The aerometer is placed in the liquid needing to be tested. The scale will be held upright by the weight in the lower part. The density of the liquid is read where the scale penetrates the surface of the liquid.
- Jacques-Alexandre-Cesar-Charles was also the creator of the Heliostat an instrument consisting of a mirror moved by clockwork, for reflecting the sun's rays in a fixed direction.