Hot Air Balloon Book: Build and Launch Kongming Lanterns, Solar Tetroons, and More

Hot Air Balloon Book: Build and Launch Kongming Lanterns, Solar Tetroons, and More — page 9
Some say that Gusmão observed a soap bubble rising in the hot air above a candle flame and realized that hot air was the source of lift he was looking for Whatever the source of his inspiration in 1709 he asked if he could demonstrate a model of a flying machine to King John V of Portugal Over the course of three days he made three separate demonstrations in front of the royal court where he propelled a ball up to the roof by combustion We don’t know how Gusmao's model worked but some writers believe that it was a paper hot air bal loon maybe even with a small burner fixed to the opening at the bottom If this is true then Gusmão produced a working model hot air balloon 73 years before the Montgolfier brothers Unfortunately he did not write down exactly how either his demon stration or his new design for an airboat worked Sadly Gusmão did not live to complete his air boat The Inquisition started to investigate him in 1724 and rather than face any charges he fled to Toledo in Spain He died of a fever only weeks after he arrived Scotland The 18th century was a time of rapid development in chemistry and physics Earlier researchers such as Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke had investigated the physical properties of air But scientists like the Scotsman Joseph Black the Englishmen Henry