Oct 18 2009

Reflections on Ballon Boy

As I watched a report again about impending charges on the ballon boy family I went the other way.  I looked up the lift capacity of 20 foot diameter helium ballons.  Could such a volume lift say 60 pounds of six year old.  Calculations say yes even if the visual observations of the ballon from news reports show the thing is not really “full”.  The basket appears to be made of the same mylar the ballon is made of and does not indicate the depression a small boy would make.  

Why did nobody think this way.  Even I didn’t until this morning.

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    • rossl on October 18, 2009 at 18:31
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    That’s why no one thought of it!  It is such a distraction, it is typical MSM bullshit.  I’m not sure why anyone cares about it.

    • RiaD on October 18, 2009 at 22:22
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    this is but….

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_…

    Colorado State University physics professor Brian Jones, using dimensions given by Richard Heene, had told sheriff’s officials as they were tracking the balloon Thursday that it was plausible for it to lift off with 37-pound Falcon inside.

    Once the device landed, sheriff’s officials discovered it was made with plastic tarps taped together and covered with aluminum foil, with a utility box made of a very thin piece of plywood, cardboard on the side, held together with string and duct tape, Alderden said.

    Using the true dimensions, Jones determined it could not have launched with the boy inside, Alderden said.

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