Balloons and boron
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
Jacques Charles was responsible for launching the world’s first unmanned hydrogen balloon. The balloon took off from the Champs de Mars, close to the current site of the Eiffel Tower, and when it landed, it is reported that it frightened a group of peasants who tore the remains apart with pitchforks.
Like Charles, Gay-Lussac was also a pioneer of balloon flight and made an ascent with the physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot. The physicists reached an altitude of 7000 m and demonstrated that the Earth’s magnetic field does not vary significantly with height. Gay-Lussac is notable for a number of other achievements: he was the codiscoverer of boron; was the first writer to use the terms ‘pipette’, ‘burette’ and ‘titrate’; he pioneered flame-resistant fabrics; and, with Humboldt, he measured the charge of a torpedo fish with an electroscope
References
Gas Laws
Balloons and Boron
C. Cobb, & H. Goldwhite, Creations of Fire: Chemistry’s Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age, New York, NY, Plenum Press, 1995, p. 20
C. Pickover, Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 225
M. P. Crossland, Gay-Lussac: Scientist and Bourgeois, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 45
K. Rogers, The 100 Most Influential Scientists of All Time, New York, NY, Britannica Educational Publishing, 2010, p. 145
A. F. Robertson, Fire Standards and Safety, Washington, D.C., American Society for Testing and Materials, 1977, p. 6
W. E. Burns, Science in the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, Inc. 2003, p. 15
C. Pala, The Oddest Place on Earth: Rediscovering the North Pole, San Jose, CA, Writers’ Showcase, 2002 p. 166
M. P. Crossland, Gay-Lussac: Scientist and Bourgeois, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 27
S. Finger, & M. Piccolino, The Shocking History of Electric Fishes: From Ancient Epochs to the Birth of Modern Neurophysiology, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 353
