I did a "layman's" writeup on this a few days ago to share my thoughts on the event with friends and family - how ridiculous it was that it would have taken only a basic understanding of buoyancy principles and geometry to sort out in a few minutes that the craft wasn't large enough to carry away Falcon.
here are my calculations...
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhK386hjlMQGdEhrVktsOWlnNERCS3RtV3hueGtSVGc&hl=en
Remember that Fort Collins, CO is at an altitude of around 5000 feet, so the densities of air (and the helium gas) are lower than at sea level. Also, the ambient temperature and relative humidity are a consideration. I set up my Excel spreadsheet at home to use gas laws to calculate the actual densities instead of using the 20C temp/sea-level standard which is commonly referenced when discussing gas densities.
There are various unknowns - most work AGAINST the amount of potential lift.
Anyhow - I found this forum when searching if anyone else was discussing the hard science. I look forward to reviewing other subjects in the forum!
- EZ
