I saw this video from Gizmodo this morning. It shows the MacBook Air suspended by a single balloon at a Mac store. Is it for real? Is the MacBook Air really that light? After a few seconds, I realized there is no way a single balloon that small can suspend a 2 lb MacBook Air in the air . It would take a few more balloons than that. That is some hot air.
Actually, it will take more than hot air to suspend a MacBook Air. Helium doesn’t cut it. Perhaps hydrogen. It’s just that the balloon is just too small to buck gravity with a 2lb payload. Notice the balloon doesn’t move at all. As it turns out, the balloon is actually suspended by a string.
Here are some of the funny and interesting comments from the article:
I walked by the apple store yesterday. The balloon was suspended by wires.
Kind of ruins the illusion when you’re leaving work late one night, and you see a bunch of Apple employees hanging up the baloon by fish wire.
Although this is obviously held up by some wires, it would be interesting to see how many balloons it takes to get it off the ground.
And of course, some mathematician tries to explain it all.
MacBook Air: 1060 grams
Approximate volume: 0.68*29.95*19.2=391 cm^3
Average Balloon: 11410 cm^3
Average Balloon: 16.3 gramsTotal volume: 11801 cm^3
Total mass: 1076 gramsDensity of MBA: 0.09117 g/cm^3 (STP)
Density of Air: 0.00128 g/cm^3 (STP)The MacBook Air and balloon are 70 times denser than air, and therefore, will not float.
Please check my math.
Yea, somebody check his math.
I say this is brilliant marketing from Apple. Now, I really believe the MacBook Air is really that light. I own one.