Weather Balloon Ascent Rate

• Mark Denny ^[1]
  1. [1] Edinburgh University
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 54, Nº. 5, 2016, págs. 268-271
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The physics of a weather balloon is analyzed. The surprising aspect of the motion of these balloons is that they ascend to great altitudes (typically 35 km) at a more or less constant rate. Such behavior is not surprising near the ground—say for a helium-filled party balloon rising from street level to the top of the Empire State building—but it is unexpected for a balloon that rises to altitudes where the air is rarefied. We show from elementary physical laws why the ascent rate is approximately constant.