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Not sure, I just imagine people attempting to shoot them down for absolutely no good reason. You would at least want to make them not blow up (especially aviati
by grenoire 7y ago
Not sure, I just imagine people attempting to shoot them down for absolutely no good reason. You would at least want to make them not blow up (especially aviation organisations).
- andrewflnr 7y agoIf they're high enough, blowing up might actually be the safest option. Better that all the hydrogen burn off up there than on the ground, when it doesn't have enough to be bouyant but still enough to do damage.
- segfaultbuserr 7y agoIt's going to be a disaster in R&D or when you want to land them down for some maintenance...
- ravenstine 7y agoWon't they be way up high? Even if one blew up, it'd be too high to hurt anyone. In fact it'd probably be tough to make one blow up from that distance. The best one could do is shoot at it, which won't ignite the hydrogen.
- grenoire 7y agoI think you are underestimating the effort people will go through to go viral on LiveLeak.
- TylerE 7y agoHydrogen doesn't explode. It burns.
- dredmorbius 7y agoHydrogen is explosive -- the flame front and thermal expansion exceed the speed of sound -- at concentrations from 18% - 60%. It is flamable at concentrations as low as 4% to as high as 75% (and to 95% in a pure oxygen mix). Hydrogen very much can and does go "boom". https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/8498/how-explosive-is-hydrogen-gas https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/8498/how-explo... http://people.clarkson.edu/~wwilcox/Design/flamlim2.pdf http://people.clarkson.edu/~wwilcox/Design/flamlim2.pdf
- hedora 7y agoIn this context, the hydrogen mix is nearly pure, and therefore not explosive. The hydrogen in the leaking balloon would be well above 60%, so it should burn at the source of the leak. The same effect is why natural gas stoves don’t explode in normal use.
- nradov 7y agoThe balloons will fly higher than anyone with civilian weapons can hit. And shooting a hole in a hydrogen balloon wouldn't cause it to blow up anyway. The gas would just leak out.
- casefields 7y agoCan't someone just launch A cube sat with an incendiary attached? Don't know how they would hit it, but theoretically wouldn't that get you within reach with a weapon that mortals can afford?
- IAmEveryone 7y agoSomeone could shoot their neighbor, set fire to every kindergarten, or make a sequel to Titanic. But, luckily, people tend to use their energy and creativity for better endeavors.
- inflatableDodo 7y agoOn this logic, we wouldn't have planes though.
- stronglikedan 7y agoThese balloons don't carry people. People are more inclined to create property damage for entertainment than they are to murder people.