Riding on a Hot Air Balloon with 100 Years of Our Breath

I was talking to a vegan / vegetarian friend a few days ago who expressed his wish for 100 years of life so that at least he has a chance to ride in the air on a balloon as his uncle did in Cappadocia, Turkey before he dies. According to him it is a breath-taking view?

I thought this over and decided to write an article on what I feel about this idea. Let’s have a look.

But first, here is some very interesting physiology about our breath in terms of tidal and residual volumes and gas exchange in our lungs we learn in our physiology and respiratory medicine lectures during our student days 6 decades ago for me. Here is a summary from another source.

https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/differentiate-between-tidal-volume-and-residual-class-11-biology-cbse-5f5d703f8f2fe249184645ec

 I then thought that if we manage to live for 100 years, how many times do we need to breathe in and out?

First, the amount of air inhaled contains 21% of oxygen and 0.04% of carbon dioxide, while the air we breathe out contains 16.4% of oxygen and 4.4% of carbon dioxide. The composition of the air remains almost the same as the air we inhale, only the percentage of carbon dioxide and oxygen changes. This is in a nutshell.

On the average for a healthy adult, there are 16 breaths per minute with each breath in and out containing about 500 ml as tidal volume.

Total volume of air in and out for 100 years is approximately 16 executions per breath x 500 ml x 60 minutes per hour x 24 hours per day x 365.25 days per year x 100 years of life = 4.2 x 10 ¹¹ ml = 420,768 cubic metres of air. That is a tremendous lot of air we breathe in and out for 100 years, provided we can maintain that rate and lung capacity as we get older, and older.

(1000 litres =1 cubic metre)

Let’s now compare this breath volume with a commercial hot air balloon my friend wanted to ride on before he dies to derive other interesting facts.

The average capacity of a big commercial balloon used by commercial sightseeing operations may be able to carry well over two dozen people, with envelope volumes of up to 600,000 cubic feet (17,000 m3). The most-used balloon size is about 2,800 m3 (99,000 cu ft), allowing it to carry 3 to 5 people. Most recreational hot air balloons hover around 3,000 feet or 914 metres to provide a breath-taking view, yet low enough to keep the landscape.

Hot air balloons can be medium or large-sized. Every size is allowed a specific range of carrying on weight. Most balloons can only hold a few people while some special ones can carry up to thirty. There is always one pilot present, so our calculation includes him. An inflated hot air balloon, the most used ones is about 2,800 m3 in volume, can lift well over 650 kg. We shall use this as an example.

(1 cu ft = 0.0283168 m3).

The average deflated hot air balloon with the gondola or basket plus 30-40 gallons of fuel in 2 tanks weighs about 800 pounds (363 kg).

(Pounds into kg x by 0.453592)

The average weight of an adult man measured all over the world is 136.7 lb (62.0 kg)

The total weight of an average balloon carrying 3 passengers, each person weighing an average of 62 kg. Thus, for 3 persons would be:

= 186 kg (3 passengers) + 363 kg (weight of the balloon) = 549 kg. Let’s use this figure.

Since the total amount of air breathed in and out for 100 years by an average person is about 420,768 cubic metres, and since the most used  hot air balloon has a volume capacity of  2,800 m3 cubic metres, this means the amount of air breathed in and out for a 100 years can fill up 420,768 / 2,800 m3 = 150 hot air  balloons that has a capable of carrying a total of 150 x 3 = 450 passengers on board with each person weighing an average of 62 kg.

Actually, any standard hot air balloon can hold more than that. It can hold an entire family of four or six people.  Most balloons have a capacity of a maximum of eight people. But we shall not use these figures, but we will use only the average ones.

One of the interesting facts is that the maximum height a hot air balloon has reached was recorded at 22,000 feet (6,706 metres). However, for a standard ride, up to 1,000 metres is enough for enjoyment. Balloon rides are kept for an hour or so, flying at the rate of 8 kph.

Let’s now have a look how much potential energy (P.E) is needed for a joy ride to lift up all those 450 passengers (including my friend) up into the air up at 1,000 metres for a joy ride using 100 years of our breath blown into all 150 balloons with the help of energy from the burners.

P.E. = mass x g x height, where m is the mass in kilograms, g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m / s² at the surface of the earth) and height in meters.

= 549 kg x 9.8 x 1,000 metres = 53,802,00 Joules per balloon.

For a total of 150 hot air balloons, it is 807,030,000 Joules for 450 passengers to enjoy a view of the earth below with the help of burners of course, not just breath.

Suppose we have no burners to help lift up all the 150 balloons.  Let us see how much fruits and vegetables a vegan or a vegetarian need to eat to get the same amount of energy.

The caloric values of various fruits and vegetables varies greatly, and we expect a vegan would consume a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in his lifetime, hopefully his plant-based diet can last him for 100 years of longevity.  What I have done is to randomly take over 50 kinds of fruits and vegetables and work out their average caloric values.

This works out to be about 160 kilojoules (160 Joule) for 4 oz (0.113398 kg) or 1,410 Joules per kg. Hence, to get out all those energy by eating only fruits and vegetable to be equivalent to the energy supplied by the burners for all the 150 balloons to carry a total of 450 passengers each passenger weighing an average of 62 kg into the air up to 1,000 meters for sightseeing as my friend wanted,  a vegan would have to eat 807,030,000 Joules / 1,410 kg = 572360 kg = 572 metric tons of fruits and vegetables throughout his 100 years of life all thrown out into his breath.

But there is another problem.

In those 100 years, we have to breathe in and out 841,536,000 times, provided we can maintain it at 16 times per minute.

Unfortunately, with each breath it brings us nearer to our grave without us being able to enjoy a ride up there in the air in a balloon as my vegetarian friend wanted.

Instead, our souls shall instantly fly and hover up there on its own without needing any balloon to have its brief and last "breath-taking" look at this world below before flying off forever through a dark tunnel, possibly through a time tunnel, a wormhole, or a hyperspace that short circuits space and time into another truly much more breath-taking beautiful world where his soul need not blow anymore balloons.   

See my view on life and death on a conveyer’s belt into a dark tunnel before emerging into the next life here:

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=conveyer%27s+belt

 

That’s it! I hope my gentle readers, including my vegetarian friend, have enjoyed my ride up there.

 I would also like to lovingly dedicate this thought of mine to Professor Dr. P. Vythilingam who is another staunched vegan not connected to my friend who wanted a ride up there in the air in a balloon before he dies.

Lim ju boo