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[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 112 points 2 weeks ago

Absolutely, but the scale of the balloons is a bit off. Nobody would be walking shoulder to shoulder like this. For a normal-ish 170lb/77kg individual your personal balloon would have to be a little under 6.5 meters across assuming it were filled with helium.

Yes, I did the math.

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago

You did the basic math, with your spherical balloon. What about giant cylinders? Then you could really pack it in.

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago

Sure. You could do a cylinder of three quarters of a meter across which seems like a reasonable footprint for someone to stand in. That'd only have to be, uh, 325.5 meters tall to have the same volume.

[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

You could use spherical balloons with really long, but different length, strings for each person. Of course you'd have to avoid tangling your balloons together while walking around like that and given wind can vary with elevation....

[-] tyler@programming.dev 21 points 2 weeks ago

You could use hydrogen, which is less dense than helium. Then if it catches on fire like the Hindenburg you’d already be in the water.

[-] perestroika@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

It wouldn't help. The thing that gives you lift is the mass of displaced air. Difference from the (lack of) mass of the lifting gas is minimal.

[-] tyler@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago

It would, but less than the density difference, since you’ve removed weight from the balloon thus gravity has less of a pull on the balloon. My wife (a PE in thermodynamics) was the one that verified that comment before I posted it, hence why I didn’t say it would increase lift by the difference in density.

[-] Neverclear@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 2 weeks ago

Note that you wouldn't need 77 kg worth of bouyancy from the balloon. The shoes would provide some lift, more if you made them out of some type of foam.

[-] saltnotsugar@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago

We thank you balloon master!

[-] match@pawb.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

What if the balloon was rigid and filled with vacuum?

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

This I am fairly certain we do not have the technology to achieve. Anything vacuum filled that large would need to have walls so thick so as to completely negate any buoyancy effect. I don't know of any modern material that would simultaneously be rigid, strong, and light enough.

[-] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Cool sci-fi concept tho

What other sorts of random issues would be solved by this super material :opens notepad: I mean, everything, right? It would have to be so strong, so light and so economical. You could make actual BattleMechs from it that wouldn't just sink into every surface they walk on. Shit, Dyson Spheres I guess.

..so why would we use weird balloon floaties? Isn't it fun how technology answers it's own questions?

[-] afronaut@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 weeks ago

What if the balloons were long and vertical like the ones in Dune? That could allow them to walk closer to one another.

[-] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I addressed that in another comment here. The long and short of it (very long, as it happens) is that the volume you'd need is still the same. So your elongated balloon would have to be well beyond what most people would consider to be ridiculously tall. 325.5 meters tall, in fact, given the 0.75 meter diameter I assumed to start with. I figure most people could probably stand in a 0.75m circle provided they didn't wave their arms around a bunch.

[-] sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Hope that lake doesn't have any breezes or gusts.

... Also, assuming you just did the calc for neutralizing the weight of said person...

Even if there was no wind... they could not walk.

Walking requires weight to work.

A surface you can push off of.

It seems like the picture shows one guy with walking sticks, which I guess might kinda work if the lake is less than about 2 or 3 feet, or under a meter deep... not too many lakes like that.

Maybe something like stilts... or ... huge snowshoe/flipper type things... might work?

this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
1125 points (100.0% liked)

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