HYDROGEN AND HELIUM: WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR AIRSHIP
Hydrogen and Helium are the two ideal elements for airships. The airship was the flying machine famous for transportation before the incident "Hindenburg" occurred on May 6,1937.
Hydrogen is best in the way that it is lighter than air. It is less costly than helium. But it is very flammable. It's very reactive.
Helium on the other hand is heavier than hydrogen and also very costly. But it is inert and non-reactive.
Kinds of Airship:
There are three kinds of airship:
1. Blimp Airship
There are better options than the blimp type of Airship. It has a single balloon so increasing the lifting gas in the balloon causes it to deform shape. It can't have support.
2. Semi-Rigid Airship
Semi-rigid Airship has some support. Increasing its size is easier than Blimp Airship. But up to a certain size.
3. Rigid Airship
Rigid Airship has special chambers. So, it is much easier to increase its size, and that is why it is an ideal airship for work and other purposes.
Hindenburg incident:
On May 6,1937 the airship was named "LZ 129 Hindenburg" a rigid airship. In this rigid airship, hydrogen is used as a lifting gas. It is 245m in length.
The incident started when this airship started its journey from "FRANKFURT GERMANY " to "NEW JERSEY USA". In this airship, 97 people were present of which 36 were passengers and 61 crew members.
During the landing fire on an airship happened due to the whole airship was completely destroyed.
There are two main reasons for this incident:
1. Static electricity:
The reason is that due to bad weather static charge built up on the metal frame which causes sparks in flammable gas hydrogen.
2. Lighting striking:
The second reason is that lighting causes sparks which cause fire in hydrogen.
Problem with Hydrogen:
Hydrogen is the fuel of the future, a dream of renewable but no one discusses the problem with hydrogen.
The following are the major problems:
1. Hydrogen except noble gases reacts with every element of the periodic table.
2. Hydrogen is very flammable.
3. Hydrogen embrittlement is the process by which hydrogen causes brittle materials which store hydrogen as atomic gas.
Problem with helium:
1. Helium is very expensive and also its reserve is considered in some specific countries only.
2. There is a storage problem with helium.
3. Its lifting capacity is much lower than hydrogen.
Conclusion:
In this article, we debate which element is the best lifter for airships. Hydrogen has many benefits and limitations same as helium.
We also talk about airships, the Hindenburg incident, and much more.
Autor:
This article is written by "NOEL GILL".
Software used in this article:
In this article, Ahref free keyword generator and Grammarly are used.
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