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Subject: 
RE: LEGO RCX Skydivers
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Wed, 10 Nov 1999 00:09:30 GMT
Original-From: 
Jim Thomas <Jim.Thomas@trw*stopspammers*.com>
Viewed: 
1989 times
  
Robert's numbers look good, although compared to my numbers they look
conservative by about 10% -- I had 13.4 ft^3 per pound.  As far as envelopes
go, you basically have to make one from scratch.  It is not really that hard
you just need the right Mylar material and a hobby iron intended for heating
shrink covering for sailplanes (it looks like a small clothes iron on the
end of a handle).  The Mylar film that is used in the fancy metallic looking
helium balloons actually is coated on one side with something that will melt
to create the seal.  Unfortunately I don't remember what the composition was
or where we got it.  To get a nice and smooth blimp shape, construct it
using the same technique as a football.

I'll try to pull some of this together on my website.  I'm working on
getting picture scans of the one we built.

JT


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Hardie [mailto:pete.hardie@dvsg.sciatl.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 2:15 PM
> To: lego-robotics@crynwr.com
> Subject: Re: LEGO RCX Skydivers
> 
> 
> Robert Munafo wrote:
> > 
> > Either my calculations are wrong, or you have a different • concept of what is a
> > "staggering" amount of helium. Here are my calculations:
> > 
> > Each gram-mole of gas at STP [1] takes up 22.41 liters • (cubic decimeters) of
> > space.
> > 
> > The weight of a mole of air is about 28 grams (a little • more actually, but I'm
> > being generous), and the weight of a mole of helium is 4 • grams; thus the net
> > bouyancy per mole of helium is 24 grams [2]
> > 
> > Net bouancy per liter of helium = 24 / 22.41 = 1.07
> > 
> > Volume of a sphere 1 meter in diameter is 4/3 pi r^3, where • r is 5 decimeters,
> > which comes out to about 523.6 liters.
> > 
> > So a spherical balloon of 1-meter diameter and filled with • helium would have
> > about 560 grams of bouyancy, or about 19 ounces for you • non-Metric dudes.
> > 
> > For comparison, the "fish" blimp that swam around in the • Media Lab during its
> > first year or two was about 2-3 times this volume (same • diameter but about 3
> > times the length)
> > 
> > What am I missing?
> 
> Mostly my hyperbole....
> 
> Still, getting envelopes for that amount of helium is difficult.
> 
> --
> Pete Hardie                   |   Goalie, DVSG Dart Team
> Scientific Atlanta            |
> Digital Video Services Group  |
> 



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