science

Hopper balloon

Hopper balloon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hopper balloon rather than just read about it. In short: A hopper balloon (simply hopper) is a small, one-person hot air balloon. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon.

Key takeaways

Hopper balloon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hopper balloon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hopper balloon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A hopper balloon (simply hopper) is a small, one-person hot air balloon. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon. Instead, the hopper pilot usually sits on a seat or wears a harness similar to a parachute harness. Hoppers are typically flown for recreation. These aircraft are sometimes called "cloud hoppers" or "cloudhoppers". However, these terms formally refer to the products of a particular manufacturer, specifically Lindstrand Balloons. Nonetheless, "cloudhopper" is used by many people as a genericized trademark, which refers to all craft of this general type. Most hopper balloons have envelopes that range in volume from 14,000 to 35,000 cubic feet (400 to 990 m3) and have a maximum flight duration of 1 to 1.5 hours. The two principal commercial balloon manufacturers today offering hopper balloons for sale are Cameron Balloons and Lindstrand Balloons. Most other hopper balloons are experimental aircraft designed and built by amateur constructors.

History

Balloon-jumping as a sport emerged in the United States as early as 1923, and in England not later than 1927. Balloon-jumping really meant jumping for many enthusiasts: with insufficient buoyancy to sustain flight, the balloonists actually had to use their muscles to start a balloon-assisted hop. In the United States helium was hailed as the choice lifting gas due to its fire safety, allowing the balloonists to smoke while airborne; elsewhere, hydrogen was common, but hot air balloons were not. Hopper balloons, or jumping balloons, consisting of nothing more than an air bag and a suspension sling with a primitive bench, were immediately employed by operators of large airships and stratospheric balloons as cheap tools for inspecting and repairing aircraft surfaces. The tool was especially handy, since the safest places to launch large high-altitude balloons (Stratobowl and Crosby, Minnesota iron pits) were located in remote places without real airport facilities. In one instance, the second launch of Georgy Prokofiev's ill-fated USSR-3, it took two hopper balloons to untie the tangled nets on top of the giant balloon: the first jumper fell off his bench but managed to hold on to the balloon's cables and survived. The first modern hot air balloon was flown by Ed Yost under sponsorship by the U.S. Office of Naval Research on October 22, 1960, in Bruning, Nebraska. Since Yost's balloon had a small envelope of 31,000 cubic feet (880 m3) and a chair for the pilot, not a basket, this was arguably also the first hopper balloon flown since the golden age of airships in 1930s.

Cloudhopper The name cloudhopper is often used to refer to a one-person hot air balloon where the pilot sits in a harness or small seat. There is often a propane tank behind the pilot's back, and the burner is on a frame above the pilot's head. Often the balloon's burner, tank, and pilot's harness can swivel independently of the hot air balloon envelope, to let the pilot turn to any direction in flight and for landing. The term "Cloudhopper" was originally coined and trademarked by British balloonist Colin Prescot. The development of the cloudhopper was carried out by Per Lindstrand of Colt Balloons in 1979. Colt Balloons later merged with Thunder Balloons to form Thunder & Colt Balloons, which inherited the Cloudhopper name. Finally, Per Lindstrand left Thunder & Colt to form his own Lindstrand Balloons, which manufactures the present-day Cloudhopper. Shortly after the team at Colt built and flew its first Cloudhopper, Cameron Balloons came up with its own backpack-style balloon, called the SkyHopper. Its main distinguishing feature was a twist-grip mounted on an arm rest to control the burner. On the original Colt Cloudhopper, as well as all modern-day cloudhopper designs, the burner controls are mounted at the bottom of the burner, like on regular passenger-carrying hot air balloons.

See also Hot air balloon Gas balloon Cluster ballooning Experimental aircraft Ultralight aircraft

References

Bibliography

"History of the Small Balloon"; Glen Moyer; Balloon Life Magazine (July 1995) Ballooning - The Complete Guide to Riding the Winds; Dick Wirth and Jerry Young; London (1980 and 1991)

External links Cloudhopper site with a US-focus Cloudhopper site with a UK/Europe-focus Cloudhoppers and other experimental LTA aircraft

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hopper balloon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hopper balloon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hopper balloon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hopper balloon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hopper balloon

In research: Hopper balloon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hopper balloon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hopper balloon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Balloons (aeronautics), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hopper balloon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hopper balloon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hopper balloon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hopper balloon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hopper balloon in simple terms?

A hopper balloon (simply hopper) is a small, one-person hot air balloon. Unlike a conventional hot air balloon where people ride inside a basket, there is no basket on a hopper balloon.

Why does Hopper balloon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hopper balloon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hopper balloon.