How Do Blimps Fly?
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Welcome to the Modern-Day Airship
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Airships, or blimps as they are commonly called, have been around since the 1930. While German Zeppelins proved to be combustible tragedies waiting to happen, the modern-day airship is a thing of beauty and used for everything from televising a game to promoting the latest sale.
No Longer Ticking Time Balloons
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Back in the day, blimps were filled with hydrogen, thus their propensity to burst in to flames. In fact, one of the greatest air disasters ever took place when the Hindenburg blew up over Lakehurst, N.J., in 1937. In all, 36 people lost their lives. Today, hydrogen has been replaced with helium, which actually helps extinguish fires.
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Wouldn't You Like a Ride?
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Today's airship is a mixture of helium and air. Helium, being lighter than air, allows the ship to float, similar to what happens when people put helium in balloons. What's even more amazing is that airships, like balloons, have no essential interior structure. The helium fills the body of the airship (commonly referred to as an envelope). Bags of air inside the envelope, called ballonets, help to maintain a constant internal pressure.
Up, Up and Away
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Once something that's lighter than the air around it has been created, flying is the easy part. Manufacturers then install wings and propellers to keep the airship on course and headed in the right direction.
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