The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert

$$
3 5 9 \mathrm {x} \frac {2 7 3 . 2 - 5 9 . 5}{2 7 3 . 2} \mathrm {x} \frac {1 0 1 3 . 3}{1 2 0} * 2 3 7 0 \mathrm {f t}. ^ {3} (\mathrm {t h e m e a n m o l a r v o l u m e} \mathrm {a t} 1 5 \mathrm {k m} \mathrm {f o r} \mathrm {J a n}. 1 9 4 3 \mathrm {o v e r L a k e h u r s t}, \mathrm {N}. \mathrm {J}.)
$$

This volume data was computed for all lovels given. Data was "borrowed" from other stations in the same latitude to piece out the 20 km soundings as needed.

II. Lifts were computed for various molor volumes for balloons between 7.5 and 75 feet diameter in the following manner:

Given

To find the lift of a $ 2 0^{\mathrm{1 D}} $ balloon at an altitude where the molar volume is 1000 ft.3:

Volume 20 ft.D Balloon = 4190 ft. $ ^{3} $

$$
\mathrm {L i f t / B a l l o o n} \frac {\mathrm {B a l l o o n V o l u m e X (D i f f e r e n c e i n m o c u l a r w g t s . o f a i r # h g n}}{\mathrm {M o l a r V o l u m e a t a g i v e n a l t i t u d e}}
$$

or

$$
\text {T o t a l L i f t o f g a s i n} \# / \mathrm {B a l l o o n} = \frac {\mathrm {f t .} ^ {3} / \mathrm {B a l l o o n X (\# / \mathrm {m o l})}}{\mathrm {f t .} ^ {3} / \mathrm {m o l}}
$$

for the 20 foot diameter balloon:

$$
\mathrm {L i f t} = \frac {4 1 9 0 (2 8 . 7 6 - 2 . 1 1)}{1 0 0 0} = 1 1 1. 7 \# \mathrm {l i f t f r o m a 2 0 f o o t d i a m e t e r}
$$

The lifts were plotted against molar volume for each size balloon. The altitudes corresponding to various molar volumes for Lakehurst and Albuquerque in January and in August 1943 as computed above were plotted on the left margin of the chart.

The family of curves was plotted on log paper and is included in the appendix with the basic sounding data.