It takes about a minute after lighting the block of flammable-something for the paper balloon to fill with hot air. There's a thin metal wire frame that keeps the mouth of the balloon open; and it is in the centre that you hook the flammable block. With a roaring flame below and black smoke filling the balloon, it pulls from your hands to launch itself sky ward.
The only thing is that I'm a bit of a party-pooper because I couldn't just let the balloon launch itself into the air. I had images of my balloon littering the 'hood when it came down and/or setting fire to something and/or the metal ring getting caught around a cat's neck or bird's leg... So, I tied a piece of string to the ring and let it ascend. Fred took this lovely photo of the flying lantern on its tether.
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| Only a tiny flame on my side of the flammable block remains - not enough to keep the sky lantern afloat. |
I'm too greeny-beany sensitive for my own good because I'd love to go to the Lantern Festival but I would be paranoid about the burnt-out lanterns being picked up afterwards. Litter, litter, litter - my pet hate.
I totally agree with Wiki where it says, "As sky lanterns contain a flame, there is the danger that they can cause a fire when landing on flammable ground. They can achieve quite a height and launching them in strong winds is not recommended. After the balloon lands, the leftover thin wire frame may present a hazard to any animal tempted to swallow it."
A wide open paved surface, no-wind conditions, eco-friendly lanterns and a large 'army' of clean-up people would be on my list of festival requirements.
It seems that there are eco-friendly lanterns. "In 2010, lanterns have been developed to become 100% wire-free. Instead of metal, flame resistant wool is used which can be ingested without causing any harm. However these can still be fire hazards."
How cool to go to a Lantern Festival eh? Beautiful!
7 comments:
Hi! I just found your blog by searching for "sky lanterns tethered." I have been intrigued by these for so long, but like you, I worry about littering, harming animals, and possibly catching something on fire. I plan to use these at my wedding if it isn't too windy and I'm happy to see that tethering seems to be a good compromise. Thanks for sharing this!
Don't believe the "100% biodegradable." They still take months to biodegrade, and in that time can hurt lots of wildlife. Sorry!
Anon - for sure. Everything that is biodegradable takes months to biogegrade - it isn't an overnight process ;(
Agreed on the biodegradable...I even sometimes find vegetative matter in my compost heap (like rinds) that takes months to break down. Nothing breaks down overnight. Nothing.
I like the idea of tethering. I love the lanterns but have never used one because they float away & I can't predict to where....but tying it down fixes that & would be a great real life example/science lesson for my kiddos.
Amazing!!! Who would have thought of that?
Once I launched a sky lantern... but it wasn't tethered!
I saw it falling as a small black dot later.
How long was your tether?
I can't remember but it probably wouldn't have been longer than 3-4 meters. I guess you can make it as long as you like but the weight of the tether will affect the lantern's lift.
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