Tissue Paper Hot Air Balloons to Launch at Great Reno Balloon Races

From a Press Release today:

“900 Students from northwest Nevada will descend on Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, site of the Great Reno Balloon Race, on Friday, September 5, 2014, to launch their own hot air balloons which they designed and constructed from tissue paper. In addition they will witness the launch of several high altitude weather balloons that will carry student authored “High Hopes” to altitudes of 30,000 feet or more.”

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LEFT: Teachers learning to construct a tissue paper hot air balloon during a training in July 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

Specially designed launchers will be utilized to fill each balloon with enough hot air to send it aloft.

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About 10 of these launchers will be available to launch student balloons.

 

BELOW: The tissue paper balloons are slipped down over the launcher and filled with hot air, then released when they become buoyant.

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As part of learning the “engineering design process” required by the Nevada Academic Content Standards in science (Nevada adopted the Next Generation Science Standards), students will have resources available on-site to improve their design and then relaunch to assess their engineering skills.

BELOW: A video clip of a launch from last year’s event.

Learning is messy!

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