Comment Bibliographies and other Goodies. (Score 1) 50
Unfortunately, there are more problems than the obvious (and easily addressed) "weight changes and hydrogen burns" problems.
Earlier, convection was brought up, with a heat rising, Zeppelin rising scenerio. The whole deal with convection isn't that hotter air will sweep things up with it, but that the hydrogen (or more likely helium) will be cooler than the rising hot air and... the airship will drop, into the flames, like a proverbial rock. Eckener, the famed Zeppelin pilot, when passing over a large desert in his famous trip around the world, had a similiar problem ; The rising hot air threatened to sink him. Truly, this may be the largest hurdle that Yoyodine Airship Co. will need to scramble over.
On a postitive note, not every Zeppelin went up in a ball of flame. Dozens were used to bomb britain in WWI, and the Graf Zeppelin used for the first around the world trip by air, had made 590 flights (144 across the ocean) and spent 17,177 hours (about 2 years) in the air, and no-one had been hurt in it. Only a handful of the rigid-body dirigibles (out of an admitted few), crashed in a horrendous and messy ink-black and halloween orange gout of fiery plasma, so everyone better lay off the airships, alright?
For more information about Eckener and the Zeppelins, take a look at "Dr. Eckeners Dream Machine" by Douglas Botting. Exciting stuff, especially if you have a penchant for airships (as I do). Thanks for watching Reading Rainbow.
-Avery
Earlier, convection was brought up, with a heat rising, Zeppelin rising scenerio. The whole deal with convection isn't that hotter air will sweep things up with it, but that the hydrogen (or more likely helium) will be cooler than the rising hot air and... the airship will drop, into the flames, like a proverbial rock. Eckener, the famed Zeppelin pilot, when passing over a large desert in his famous trip around the world, had a similiar problem ; The rising hot air threatened to sink him. Truly, this may be the largest hurdle that Yoyodine Airship Co. will need to scramble over.
On a postitive note, not every Zeppelin went up in a ball of flame. Dozens were used to bomb britain in WWI, and the Graf Zeppelin used for the first around the world trip by air, had made 590 flights (144 across the ocean) and spent 17,177 hours (about 2 years) in the air, and no-one had been hurt in it. Only a handful of the rigid-body dirigibles (out of an admitted few), crashed in a horrendous and messy ink-black and halloween orange gout of fiery plasma, so everyone better lay off the airships, alright?
For more information about Eckener and the Zeppelins, take a look at "Dr. Eckeners Dream Machine" by Douglas Botting. Exciting stuff, especially if you have a penchant for airships (as I do). Thanks for watching Reading Rainbow.
-Avery
