Q 01/05

What fuel do most modern hot air balloon burners burn?

A) Hydrogen

B) Propane

C) Natural gas

D) Kerosene

Answer · why

B) Propane

Propane. It rides in the basket as a compressed liquid, and the burner runs it through a coil heated by its own flame so that it reaches the jets as g...

Q 02/05

The Montgolfier brothers, who launched the first hot air balloons in 1783, ran which family business?

A) Paper-making

B) Silk weaving

C) Glass-blowing

D) Clock-making

Answer · why

A) Paper-making

Paper-making. The family mills near Annonay paid for the experiments and supplied the material: the first big balloon was cloth lined with layers of p...

Q 03/05

Which American envoy watched the first manned balloon flight over Paris in 1783 and described it in his journal?

A) Thomas Jefferson

B) John Adams

C) Benjamin Franklin

D) Thomas Paine

Answer · why

C) Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin. Watching from the terrace of his house, he noted how the two aeronauts lowered their hats to salute the crowd as the balloon climbe...

Q 04/05

King Louis XVI originally decreed that which group would be the first people to fly in a balloon?

A) Palace servants

B) Army volunteers

C) Cloistered monks

D) Condemned criminals

Answer · why

D) Condemned criminals

Condemned criminals. A young science teacher and an army officer argued that the honour belonged to men of standing, won the king over and made the fl...

Q 05/05

A duck and a rooster shared the first passenger balloon flight in 1783 with which larger animal?

A) A pig

B) A goat

C) A sheep

D) A dog

Answer · why

C) A sheep

A sheep. All three landed unharmed after eight minutes over Versailles, and Louis XVI rewarded the 'heroes of the air' with a home in his royal menage...