h a l f b a k e r yInvented by someone French.
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Suspended from the LTA balloon this ultra-light "Eifel
Tower" like
structure, tethered to the ground allows the balloon only
vertical movement restraining it
from swaying or changing position horizontally.
My only question to my friends the half thinkers is: How
does this
work, and why?
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Annotation:
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What did the Poles do to you? And why are they rigid? Are these questions related? |
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On a serious note are you proposing the pole not be attached to the ground? If so, why would you think horizontal movement would be stopped? And why do you think swaying would be stopped? |
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I want the tethered balloon to be located over my small
yard with no way to move outside of it. So it acts like a
pole
although it mostly (or perhaps only) works on tension. |
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I edited and added "tethered to the ground" following
[Voice]'s question. Thanks. |
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Somehow the ropes because of the way they are
connected to each other, and together with the tension
from the balloon
create a rigid or semi-rigid structure. |
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String figures where one hand is the ground and the other is a LTA coming to equilibrium. |
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if the force of a crosswind exceeds the buoyancy of the balloon, it will move around. |
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why do you have a balloon in your backyard. |
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Well, your Eifel Tower can withstand bending loads, then
it can resist horizontal movement. |
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If you want pure tension (probably necessary to be light
enough to be held up by a reasonable balloon), then you'll
be better off with a pure code shape than with curved
sides like the Eifel Tower. Now the width of your base
depends on how strong of a wind you want to withstand.
Take your balloon out on the worst case windy day on a
single string and tie that string off at the edge of the
largest circle you can draw in your yard such that the
balloon is in the center. Then tie similar strings from the
balloon to many more points around the edge of that
circle. All the other strings can be much thinner than
your original string and you can replace your original
string as well since the load will be shared among many
strings. Unfortunately I'm afraid that unless you're only
dealing with only a very light breeze a the worst case,
this will look more like a tent than a pole. |
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What on earth are you all talking about? I've never seen a
tether that restricts the tethered object to radial
movements only. That sounds impossible. And I've never
heard of this "Eifel Tower" thing either—some new
invention? |
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/How does this work, and why?/ |
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The answer: the Eiffel tower shaped tether is tethered at the bottom of a missle-silo-like hole for which it is a perfect fit. The square sides of the hole prevent lateral movement of the square tower base and consequently the tethered balloon. But the balloon and tower can rise and fall according to, ah, changes in atmospheric pressure? The tether is long enough that the tower can emerge almost all the way from its hole but not quite. |
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Umm, this might be a bit obvious, but put it inside a tower,
that way, no wind. |
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