Hot Air Balloon

After the Egg Lander, we were expected to use the same structure and edit it in a way to build a Hot Air Balloon. Other than the materials that were given to us when we built the Egg Lander for the second time, we also got 10 candles and a garbage bag. Instead of having the requirement that the egg must survive the landing, the Hot Air Balloon must be in the air for a certain amount of time and height. 

Our previous idea for the Egg Lander was a soccer ball shape, where the straws were shaped into large pentagons so that when thrown from a two-story high building, the straws would absorb the shock. The encasing used to hold the egg was a triangular pyramid. This would allow for the egg to have enough space so that when the Egg Lander fell to the ground, the egg would not hit break that easily, but there was also enough space so the egg would not be rolling around during the time of flight. Our group thought that the triangular pyramid was the best to use for the Hot Air Balloon since it was light, and could be used to hold the ten candles. 

In the end, after thinking about it, we decided to use the optimal design Mr. Chung drew on the board. It was crossing two straws one on top of another. However, the problem our group had was how long should each straw be and where should the candles and bag be placed. In the end, our group decided to use the length of two straws with the bending part sticking out, so that the candles will be put into the straw. However, this design would not allow the bag to be held up anywhere. Therefore, we decided to make another cross with a longer length so that the bag could be held up and would not be burnt by the candles. 

Unfortunately, our Hot Air Balloon did not work. When the candles were lighted, the bag released oxygen but did not rise from the ground. There were many reasons for this. Firstly, the structure used to make to suspend the bag and hold the candles was too heavy. Also, there weren't enough candles to make the bag collect oxygen and eventually rise up. In addition, the bag was too small to accumulate oxygen and cause the structure to rise.

  

If I had to change something, I would firstly modify the design. In order for the Hot Air Balloon to rise, the structure must be light. I would make only one crossing of straws and increase the number of candles and place them along the edges of the straw to allow all the oxygen to rise to the bag. I would also increase the size of the bag so that the oxygen would make the size of the bag larger, making it easier and quicker for the structure to rise.

Even though this was the first attempt to build a Hot Air Balloon, and it did not work, it was a fun experience to take apart our Egg Lander and create something different. I enjoyed the fact that for the Hot Air Balloon, the egg was not incorporated because the weight of the egg would change the way it had to be built, as well as the number of candles that had to be included into the structure, making the whole Hot Air Balloon difficult to rise from the ground.