Curated OER
Hot Air Balloon Design Lesson Plan
Sixth graders discuss what they know and what they want to know about hot air balloon using a KWL chart. They then use a wide array of materials to design a hot air balloon that will lift successfully in cooperative groups referring to...
Curated OER
Activity 1 Up, Up, and Away: Building a Hot Air Balloon
Middle schoolers investigate the question: "How does a hot air balloon work?" They build small hot air balloons ans then lauch them. Students discuss how they think a hot air balloon floats. Pupils are introduced to the use of models...
Curated OER
Take a Trip on the Chandelier
Students discuss the lines, shapes, and patterns used to decorate a 19th-century chandelier that was made to look like a hot-air balloon. In this art lesson students discuss the chandelier and then create a papier-mâché sculpture of a...
Curated OER
THE TRAVELS OF BABAR: An Adventure in Scale :Building a Model Hot Air Balloon
Students encounter basic facts about helium and hot air. They compare the weight and size of different materials. Students work collaboratively in teams. They create their own model balloon.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Estimating Buoyancy
Students learn that buoyancy is responsible for making boats, hot air balloons and weather balloons float. They calculate whether or not a boat or balloon will float, and calculate the volume needed to make a balloon or boat of a certain...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Balloons
Students follow the steps of the engineering design process as they design and construct balloons for aerial surveillance. After their first attempts to create balloons, they are given the associated Estimating Buoyancy lesson to learn...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Floating and Sinking: Hot Air Balloons
Why do hot air balloons float? This resource from the NOVA Web site offers a series of interactive activities that illustrates the physics of hot air balloons.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Dirtmeister's Science Lab: The Air Is There
An experiment to see how the temperature of an object affects how high it bounces. This site contains web links and notes for the teacher.
Other
Zvi Har El: Around the World in Eighty Days
This site from the personal site from Zvi Har El's Jules Verne Collection provides the complete text of Jules Verne's novel "Around the World in Eighty Days."
Other
Eballoon
This site discusses the specifics of piloting a hot air balloon. Click on hyperlinks on the left-hand menu to find information on the parts of a balloon, their functions, the events that are often held involving hot air balloons,...
Other
Virtual Chembook: Density Applications With Gases
DENSITY is a physical property of matter, as each element and compound has a unique density associated with it. Density defined in a qualitative manner as the measure of the relative "heaviness" of objects with a constant volume. For...
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions From the 1700s
Use this site to learn more about early inventors and inventions from the 18th century. This web page offers text and images on various inventors and their inventions. You can also access information about inventors and inventions from...
The History Cat
The History Cat: Lincoln's High Tech War
Describes the weaponry used during the Civil War, and some of the innovative technology that the Union's military forces employed. These included the minie ball, rifles, underwater torpedoes, the use of hot air balloons, and improved...
Museum of Science
Museum of Science and Industry: Activities: Fly a Hot Air Balloon
Step-by-step instructions, with photos, of how to construct a hot-air balloon from tissue paper, to demonstrate that heated air expands, creating a convection current. This activity requires the use of a hot air gun and is labor-intensive.
Maryland Science Center
Maryland Science Center: Barnyard Ballooning [Pdf]
This is a design challenge where students create a basket, attach it to a balloon, add eggs, and drop it all from a height to see if their design protects the eggs from cracking.
PBS
Pbs Kids: Abby & Rosita's Wand Chase
In this episode, Abby and Rosita travel in a hot air balloon to different countries in chase of the bird who stole Abby's wand.
How Stuff Works
How Stuff Works: How Helium Balloons Work
This article explains how helium is able to keep balloons afloat in the air. Compares them to how hot air balloons work. Includes a video, and some activities to try for testing the principles being discussed.