Sky lanterns!

[PaulR]

Good question, Clarrers.  I do have a picture on my computer at home of a sheep on the horizon near Lewes and it looks HUUUUGE (seriously, it really does look bigger than a big cow).  I'll try to remember to post it tonight.

[PeteB99]

Apparently they have lots of these at Glasto; I'm looking forward to seeing them. Hopefully wire-free ones. 

Loads of them at Cropredy last year.

Dropping one onto a field full of tents is almost as good as dropping it onto a thatched roof

[ScumOfTheRoad]

And just look where your lantern landed Miss Charlotte. I hope you are proud.

Balloon Blamed For Setting Rio de Janeiro on Fire : TreeHugger

[andyoxon]

Someone let a couple of lanterns off at the campsite this week.  First was successful, the second the next night seemed to struggle in a bit of wind, went up to tree height and then came down directly on the other side of the hedge - if it had come down on the other side of the tree in may easily have landed on someone's tent.   

[hellymedic]

Oh Noes!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-10826445

[itsbruce]

The wire free ones seem to use aluminium silicate fibre. High temperature insulation wool - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I pick them up when I see them littering the countryside, I've only ever found the type with wire in them.

That just proves how good the biodegradable ones are, then.

[Zoidburg]

I don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling about sky lanterns being used in the summer, especialy if you live near moorland or forest.

[longers]

I saw my first one last October and it was only on New Years Eve that it stopped being a UFO after I saw about twenty of them in the hour after midnight.

My sister got married in May in a field and I had thought there might have been a few let off then but I was glad there weren't.

[Zoidburg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_balloon_bombs

 

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't get a warm and fuzzy feeling about sky lanterns being used in the summer, especialy if you live near moorland or forest.

Ditto.

Cycling home last week, I took the scenic route. Acres and acres of ripe crops, brown and rustling in the breeze. First decent crop for about 3 years; the damp summers have wrecked previous crops.

One sky lantern in that lot and '000s of acres will go up.

[1gear]

But, if they land its because of no heat isnt it. If theres no heat then theres no flame?
I saw a load when on a camp sit in germany, there were maybe 30 floating along over a lake.

[hellymedic]

But, if they land its because of no heat isnt it. If theres no heat then theres no flame?
I saw a load when on a camp sit in germany, there were maybe 30 floating along over a lake.

They can still be hot enough to smoulder and straw etc can then catch light when the wind blows.

[mrcharly-YHT]

But, if they land its because of no heat isnt it. If theres no heat then theres no flame?
I saw a load when on a camp sit in germany, there were maybe 30 floating along over a lake.

In gusty conditions, the flame can get too big and set fire to the canopy/balloon bit. Then you have a flaming ball dropping out of the sky.

The one time I've watched any set off, droplets of burning wax were falling from the lanterns as they floated up into the sky.

[1gear]

But, if they land its because of no heat isnt it. If theres no heat then theres no flame?
I saw a load when on a camp sit in germany, there were maybe 30 floating along over a lake.

In gusty conditions, the flame can get too big and set fire to the canopy/balloon bit. Then you have a flaming ball dropping out of the sky.

The one time I've watched any set off, droplets of burning wax were falling from the lanterns as they floated up into the sky.

Well wax will soon go out, and if the flame does get too big and the whole thing catches fire(is this not abit over the top?) then i cant really see it lasting too long.
I suppose we will have to wait for the bits in the papers of farmers complaining about their crops being damaged or set on fire by these things.

[Zoidburg]

It's parafin wax or hexamine, once lit it stays lit unless you pour water on it.

Just because you don't have a flame does not mean there wont be heat left in what lands, certainly enough to leave smouldering materials on the ground, peat fires start that way.

If you have tinder dry conditions then all you need is to add a bit of smouldering material, like a fag end, or bit's of a sky lantern.

[1gear]

It's parafin wax or hexamin, once lit it stays lit unless you pour water on it.

Just because you don't have a flame does not mean there wont be heat left in what lands, certainly enough to leave smouldering materials on the ground, peat fires start that way.

If you have tinder dry conditions then all you need is to add a bit of smouldering material, like a fag end, or bit's of a sky lantern.

So whatmakes them go up then, surely when they come down its normally because they are cold

[Zoidburg]

It's parafin wax or hexamin, once lit it stays lit unless you pour water on it.

Just because you don't have a flame does not mean there wont be heat left in what lands, certainly enough to leave smouldering materials on the ground, peat fires start that way.

If you have tinder dry conditions then all you need is to add a bit of smouldering material, like a fag end, or bit's of a sky lantern.

So whatmakes them go up then, surely when they come down its normally because they are cold

They come down because there is no longer enough thermal expansion of heated gas into the canopy.

Note I said "enough".

Not "none".

It's still plenty hot enough to cause a fire.

[1gear]

It's parafin wax or hexamin, once lit it stays lit unless you pour water on it.

Just because you don't have a flame does not mean there wont be heat left in what lands, certainly enough to leave smouldering materials on the ground, peat fires start that way.

If you have tinder dry conditions then all you need is to add a bit of smouldering material, like a fag end, or bit's of a sky lantern.

So whatmakes them go up then, surely when they come down its normally because they are cold

They come down because there is no longer enough thermal expansion of heated gas into the canopy.

Note I said "enough".

Not "none".

It's still plenty hot enough to cause a fire.

Ok
Ill await the bit in the paper about a field of straw or grass or whatever being set on fire from a sky lantern.

[Zoidburg]

Oh Noes!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-10826445

You mean like this?

[hellymedic]

It's parafin wax or hexamin, once lit it stays lit unless you pour water on it.

Just because you don't have a flame does not mean there wont be heat left in what lands, certainly enough to leave smouldering materials on the ground, peat fires start that way.

If you have tinder dry conditions then all you need is to add a bit of smouldering material, like a fag end, or bit's of a sky lantern.

So whatmakes them go up then, surely when they come down its normally because they are cold

They come down because there is no longer enough thermal expansion of heated gas into the canopy.

Note I said "enough".

Not "none".

It's still plenty hot enough to cause a fire.

Ok
Ill await the bit in the paper about a field of straw or grass or whatever being set on fire from a sky lantern.

You obviously did not read (or follow) what I posted yesterday.

Oh Noes!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-10826445

It happened. Yesterday. In Oxfordshire.

We aren't just theoretical spoilsports.

Follow the link.

Please.