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May 21, 2012
Mark Clayton: Cybersecurity: How US utilities passed up chance to protect their networks
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Chris Farrell : Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Stephen Whiteside, Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Social anxiety disorder --- or just shy?
Guy Jackson : Victim's father regrets death of Lockerbie bomber
The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: Famed chef's veal shoulder farsumagru: A festive meat course for late spring
May 18, 2012
Rabbi Berel Wein: Striving: The People of the Book's Book for (All of) the People
Steven Goldberg: 5 Great Stock Picks and the Exchange-Traded Fund that Owns Them
Mary Pickett, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Don't be forced into gluten-free lifestyle based merely on a doctor's false-positive test
The Kosher Gourmet by Carolyn Malcoun: DIY healthy lunchbox treats: HOMEMADE FRUIT BARS for kids and brown-bagging adults alike
May 17, 2012
Warren Richey: Teacher fired for being unwed and pregnant can sue religious school, court rules
Josh Mitnick: Netanyahu's 'centrist' coalition is already proving it's anything but
Steven Goldberg: Earn Dividends in Emerging Markets with This WisdomTree ETF
Amina Khan: Research links coffee to lower death rates
The Kosher Gourmet by Faith Duran : Cheesy Potato Breakfast Casserole with Cheddar and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
May 16, 2012
Carmen Terzic, M.D., Ph.D. : Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: A variety of exercises can help improve balance
Melissa Healy: National strategy on Alzheimer's disease aims to halt it by 2025
The Kosher Gourmet by Joyce White : GOODNESS GRACIOUS: GREENS! 4 winning recipes that are no longer just for down-home folks (Includes expert tips & techniques)
May 15, 2012
Kristen Chick: Obama administration resumes arms sales to Bahrain despite serious unresolved human rights issues. Activists feel abandoned
Pat Mertz Esswein: Homes are now affordable again and mortgage rates are low. What you need to know before you buy
Kathy Kristof: Our Practical Investor Fights Inflation with These 6 Investments
Sue Hubbard, M.D.: The Kid's Doctor: Lactose intolerant young child? Check again
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Hunt: Spread a Little Excitement with EXOTIC CONDIMENTS (4 RECIPES)
May 14, 2012
Lisa Gerstner: How to Protect Your Identity, Finances If You Lose Your Phone
Harvard Health Letters: Heart disease and dementia
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon: MANGO COCONUT OAT MORNING MUFFINS are a bright but hearty delight
May 11, 2012
Jessica L. Anderson: Get the Best Deal on a Used Car
Jett Stone: Forget face-lifts and fake knees. Scientists have seen the fountain of youth --- and it's broccoli
The Kosher Gourmet by Chef Mario Batali: The famed chef's vegetable dish that tastes true to the season: FAVAS AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS WITH POTATOES AND TARRAGON
May 10, 2012
Sergei L. Loiko: Putin sends warning to U.S., NATO in Victory Day speech at Red Square
Mary Rourke: How being a 'mentch' got Vidal Sasoon his start and fighting in Israel's War of Independence provided him with confidence and a strong sense of his own identity
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The Kosher Gourmet by Betty Rosbottom: Gleaming with its golden, crimson, and snowy white hues, this silken smooth and creamy STRAWBERRY ORANGE TRIFLE looks impressive, but is easy to prepare
May 9, 2012
Sharon Palmer, R.D. How you can reduce your risk -- or delay -- chronic diseases associated with aging
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Jewish World Review
How Stuff Works: How blimps work
By
Marshall Brain
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
At any major sporting event there is one thing you are sure to see if the weather is decent. Look, up in the sky, it's a blimp — A gigantic sky whale. Like a helicopter, a blimp can provide a hovering platform in the sky that makes them great for aerial photography. But unlike a helicopter, a blimp does its hovering at a much lower fuel cost. Blimps can stay in the air for days if they need to. And don't forget the blimp bonus — there is a huge surface for advertising displays.
The obvious first question is the size. How big is a blimp? They are immense by normal human standards. According to Goodyear, you need to imagine a six-story office building almost 200 feet long to get a sense of a blimp's scale. Or to put it another way, imagine three 18 wheelers parked end-to-end. That handles the length. Then imagine stacking the tractor trailers four-high top of each other. A blimp is about 60 feet high, while a tractor trailer is about 13.5 feet high. An un-inflated blimp, including the fabric of the blimp itself, the gondola and the motors, weighs about 13,000 pounds.
A blimp is a giant balloon made out of airtight fabric. There is no internal frame or structure. You might remember the famous film of the Hindenburg exploding, with its immense aluminum framework falling from the sky. A blimp has none of that. It is a big balloon with the gas inside giving it its shape.
That gas is also the key to a blimp's ability to float. Blimps are filled with helium, and a lot of it. Think about the normal helium balloon that a child gets at a birthday party. The balloon holds half a cubic foot (14 liters) and can lift about 14 grams. Keep in mind that there are 453 grams in a pound. Therefore, to lift a 50 pound child, it would take about 1,620 birthday balloons.
To get a 13,000 pound blimp off the ground, you need a whole bunch of helium — over 200,000 cubic feet to be exact. That is why blimps are so gigantic compared to an airplane that can carry the same number of people. Of course an airplane can't hover in the air for days at a time either.
The pilot who operates the blimp, plus any passengers, ride in the gondola. Inside, the gondola looks a lot like the cabin of an 8-seater airplane. There are two pilot seats at the front and six passenger seats behind. The controls that the pilot uses look a lot like the controls of an airplane. At the back of the blimp there are big fins that act as the rudder and elevators for steering the blimp. And a blimp has two engines spinning airplane-like propellers to move the blimp forward through the air.
You might have noticed that a birthday balloon, once set free, has this tendency to rise until it is out of sight. Essentially a birthday balloon goes up until it bursts. What keeps a blimp from doing that? For one thing, a balloon starts its trip with enough ballast on board to be just slightly heavier than air. If you could put a blimp on a bathroom scale, it would weigh about 100 pounds at takeoff. That keeps it on the ground, but just barely. The slightest gust of wind could kick it into the air. Plus the blimp gets lighter as it burns fuel.
Therefore, inside the blimp there are two large balloons called ballonets. These fill with air under the pilot's control. Since air is a lot heavier than helium, relatively speaking, the pilot puts a lot of air into the ballonets when it is time to descend. To ascend, the pilot lets the air out of the ballonets, allowing the helium inside the blimp to have its full lifting power. Essentially, the pilot is using huge tanks of air as additional, adjustable ballast.
The other big thing with blimps is the advertising. It is possible to paint ads onto the blimp's fabric, and people do, but those signs are invisible at night. Therefore, blimps also have arrays of bright LEDs for night advertising. A blimp becomes a giant floating jumbotron.
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Previously:
How space stations work
How toasters work
How a cell phone works
What went obsolete in the last decade?
How cholesterol works
How leather works
How vaccines work
How the smart grid works
How sea level works
How employee screening works
How to avoid catching a cold
How bread works
How a home energy audit works
How Omega-3 fatty acids work
Social networking
How trick birthday candles work
How electric cars like the Nissan Leaf work
How a manned mission to Mars works
How gold works
How bad breath works
How the ultimate sunglasses work
Any rocket is easily converted to a missile
How to have a great staycation
How a black box works
How a solar roof works
How nuclear bombs work
How the Hubble Space Telescope works
How hay fever works
How to know when to rent vs. buy
How swine flu works
How a kidney dialysis machine works
How children die in hot cars
How a trillion dollars works
How electronic cigarettes work
How chimpanzees work
How in vitro fertilization works
How supertankers work
How poisons work
How corn works
How dog ID chips work
How President Obama's limousine works
How emergency power works
How aircraft carriers work
How antibiotics and vaccines work
How mucus works
How iron and steel work
How aspirin works
How igloos work
How the Predator UAV works
How retention ponds work
How water absorbers work
How melamine works
How digital music works
How coal mining works
How an economic depression works
How the liver works
How 3D movies work
How oil pipelines work
How jet packs work
How seismographs work
How Olympic technology works
How Personal Rapid Transit works
How 3G works
How the Global Position System (GPS) works
How octane works
How cruise missiles work
How submarines work
How miles work
How octane works
How food preservation works
How beer works
How holding your breath works
How smoke detectors work
How heat pumps work
How your night vision works
How concentrating solar collectors work
How your key fob works
How the common cold works
How the Large Hadron Collider Works
How making a TV show works
How dry cleaning works
How exoskeletons work
How an oil refinery works
How landfills work
How the Orion spacecraft works
The cutting edge in HDTV
Redefining the CD
How the HDMI cable scam works
How glow-in-the-dark toys work
How the subprime mortgage crisis works
How gift cards work
How Tasers work
How giant TV screens work
How foreclosure works
How Air Force One works
How wildfire fighting works
How vitamins work
How ejection seats work
How reattaching limbs works
How hot air balloons work
How paparazzi work
How counterfeiting works
How CDs work
How the Edsel worked
How Stinger missiles work
How hybrid cars work
How sharks work
How mosquitoes work
How diesel engines work
How water towers work
How the Dawn mission works
How Kassam rockets work
How the North American Eagle works
Why aren't we flying to work?
How tofu and soy milk work
How Colony Collapse Disorder works
How airbags work
How the U.S. income tax works
How gum works
How caffeine works
How Daylight Saving Time works
How a cruise missile works
How snow making works
© 2007, How Stuff Works Inc. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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