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Some people are so nitpicky... From TFA: "He instigated a top-secret experiment, code-named Project Mogul, that sent up hot air balloons equipped..." I belie

Some people are so nitpicky... From TFA: "He instigated a top-secret experiment, code-named Project Mogul, that sent up hot air balloons equipped..." I believe this is an error. Per Wikipedia [1]: "...rubber meteorological balloons, however, these were quickly replaced by enormous balloons made of polyethylene plastic. These were more durable, leaked less helium...". So the Project Mogul balloons were NOT hot air balloons. Which is not surprising. To fulfill the mission, a hot air balloon would have to carry fuel and perform controlled burns to maintain altitude. Not that this would be impossible, it is just easier IMHO to release ballast. [1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mogul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mogul

wolverine876 4y ago
Why do you trust one source and not the other?
- kurthr 4y ago
  Because simple hot air balloons (without gas buoyancy) would not be very effective at this sort of problem. It makes much more sense to use He lift weather balloons (even if they use temperature controlled solar power to maintain proper buoyancy). I'm just looking at the pictures, but they don't look/lift like simple hot air balloons to me. I'd lean toward the science writer simplifying the language.
- JoeDaDude 4y ago
  It's not just one source over the other, it is also the impracticality of the hot air balloon for this purpose, as I stated in my post. This observation, borne out of my (admittedly brief) exposure to both hot air balloons (I know hot air balloon pilots and have ridden with them) and weather balloons (I planned, but did not execute, a project with my son's boy scout troop to launch a weather balloon to the stratosphere), combined with my engineering instincts (FWIW), convinced that the Wikipedia source was correct.
- gumby 4y ago
  There are some specific replies but here’s the general one. There are two mutually exclusive descriptions. JoeDaDude didn’t just uncover one but provided the reasoning why the second explanation is far more likely. In other words they didn’t simply assert one over the other, but rather gave you the mechanism to say “oh you’re right” or alternately to point out the flaw in their reasoning.

wolverine876 4y ago

Why do you trust one source and not the other?

kurthr 4y ago
Because simple hot air balloons (without gas buoyancy) would not be very effective at this sort of problem. It makes much more sense to use He lift weather balloons (even if they use temperature controlled solar power to maintain proper buoyancy). I'm just looking at the pictures, but they don't look/lift like simple hot air balloons to me. I'd lean toward the science writer simplifying the language.
JoeDaDude 4y ago
It's not just one source over the other, it is also the impracticality of the hot air balloon for this purpose, as I stated in my post. This observation, borne out of my (admittedly brief) exposure to both hot air balloons (I know hot air balloon pilots and have ridden with them) and weather balloons (I planned, but did not execute, a project with my son's boy scout troop to launch a weather balloon to the stratosphere), combined with my engineering instincts (FWIW), convinced that the Wikipedia source was correct.
gumby 4y ago
There are some specific replies but here’s the general one. There are two mutually exclusive descriptions. JoeDaDude didn’t just uncover one but provided the reasoning why the second explanation is far more likely. In other words they didn’t simply assert one over the other, but rather gave you the mechanism to say “oh you’re right” or alternately to point out the flaw in their reasoning.