The problem wasn’t hydrogen, it was the thermite the hull was made out of
Comment on xkcd #2950: Situation
AceBonobo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Surprisingly, if you google “hydrogen airship revival”, you will find that there are many companies trying to build airships.
Since the non-flammable helium has less lifting capacity and is non-renewable and expensive, they are trying to use helium safely. Good luck…
ryannathans@aussie.zone 4 months ago
YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I think you accidentally put helium twice in your second paragraph. Just wanted to let you know in case you want to fix it for readability.
AceBonobo@lemmy.world 4 months ago
Appreciated
YarHarSuperstar@lemmy.world 4 months ago
You bet :)
FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 4 months ago
I don’t think airship travel is viable due to inability to properly steer them outside of very specific conditions, regardless of the filling. I would love to be proven wrong if it were somehow economic for shipping, but I have no high expectations.
ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
Armchair pseudo-scientific thinking like this was why Mythbusters became so popular. They even devoted at least one episode to this very myth. Spoiler, hydrogen wasn’t what made that particular lead ballon unsafe.
Birch@sh.itjust.works 4 months ago
I didn’t particularly like that episode because they didn’t do another control test and just called it a day