Students fight wind, cold to launch test bevy of hot air balloons

Some wilted, falling onto the crowd. Some were whisked away by the strong winds. Some clung to bare tree branches.

Students of C.P. Squires Elementary and Hyde Park Middle schools headed out to a field Thursday for their grand science experiment: to launch 40 hot-air balloons they constructed from tissue paper and Elmer's Glue last week.

The 8-foot balloons were as colorful as the larger kind, and the tissue paper was strong enough to hold the hot air -- as long as it didn't tear, teachers said.

The assignment was to launch the balloons as much as 200 feet. The method was hot air -- produced by petroleum canisters -- pumped into the balloons.

That was the theory. But higher-than-usual winds made it hard to turn theory into practice.

As the first balloon was set up for liftoff, it was torn out of the fingers of students by the winds.

"We'll repair it. It'll be fine," a teacher said.

The owners carried their balloon to the repair station, where teachers and students worked taping, gluing and cutting. Extra tissue paper was available for large holes.

"It's not just for fun -- there's a learning component that goes with it," Dorothy Eisenberg of the Education Foundation said. The nonprofit foundation funded the project through a $2,000 grant.

Hyde Park, a math and science magnet school, has launched balloons for three years. The students used their background to help the students at C.P Squires.

A calmer day would have allowed for more successful launches. Visiting parents huddled near portable classrooms trying to escape the wind. The suspense of the launches was overshadowed the cold weather and winds. Most of the balloons flew no more than 50 feet.

"I'm real disappointed," Chad Foltz, at science teacher at C.P. Squires, said. "I feel bad for the kids working so hard for three weeks and it comes to this."

But given the adverse circumstances, the young scientists turned to other resources.

First, the launches were moved closer to the portables to block the wind. Then the students changed strategy. Launch operators shrank the size of the balloons by crunching the bottom. This reduced inflation time and allowed the balloons to hold more hot air.

Their first success -- a balloon titled "The Dragon" -- soared above the bare tree tops and beyond the school as the students screamed. "We're making due with the elements," Foltz said.

A crowd of more than 200 students judged the launches as they sat waiting their turn. Balloons were judged on a scale of 1 to 10 and categories included appearance, construction, holds air well, inflation time how high and direction.

"Both of them are going to get a 10 because they flew so high," Victoria Starret, sixth-grade Hyde Park student, said as two balloons were sucked into nearby branches. "If the tree wasn't there, they would have gone farther."

And success or failure didn't seem to matter. Students cheered for the "sailers" as well as the shriveled balloons that crashed into the crowd.

"It's all part of the experiment," Eisenberg said. "How many times did the Wright brothers have to try? It's one of the things they'll have to learn."

"Even though it's fun, it has learning objectives," Carol Lark, C.P. Squires principal, said. "They can learn so much and get so excited about science."

The balloons were environmentally friendly, and appropriate permission for the launches was obtained from Nellis Air Force Base and the North Las Vegas Police Department.

"We may do it again next year," Patti Johnson, C.P. Squires fifth-grade teacher, said. "After lunch, the winds died down and all of them went up and went forever."

archive