The Great Balloon of Annonay
On June 4, 1783, a large crowd gathered in the marketplace of Annonay, a town in France. People whispered and pointed toward a huge bag resting on a wooden platform. Two brothers, Joseph and Jacques Étienne Montgolfier, had invited the public to see something new. They claimed this giant bag could fly.
The brothers had made the balloon out of sturdy cloth lined with paper. It measured more than thirty feet across, but it held no passengers. There were no pilots, no passengers, and no animals on board. Instead, it was an empty sphere waiting for lift.
To make it rise, the brothers used the power of fire. They built a smoky blaze under an opening at the bottom of the bag. As the air inside the balloon grew warm, something amazing happened. Warm air is lighter than the cooler air outside. Because it was lighter, the warm air began to rise, pushing against the inside of the cloth bag.
Slowly, the wrinkled fabric puffed outward. The balloon grew round and tight. Then, the ropes were let go. The crowd gasped as the enormous balloon lifted smoothly into the clear sky. It climbed higher and higher until it looked like a tiny bubble floating over the rooftops.
- platform:
- A flat, raised structure on which things or people can stand.
- sphere:
- A round, three-dimensional shape like a ball.
- fabric:
- Cloth or woven material used for making clothes or covers.
- descend:
- To move downward from a higher place to a lower one.
- uncrewed:
- Operating without any people on board.
- witnessed:
- Saw or observed an event happen with one's own eyes.
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Preview questions from this passageShowHide
- 1What materials did the Montgolfier brothers use to build their balloon?
- 2Why was there nobody on board the balloon during this flight?
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About this explanatory article passage for 3rd Grade
“The Great Balloon of Annonay” is a explanatory article reading passage about first hot air balloon demonstration, written for 3rd Grade. It takes about 2 minutes to read (288 words) and comes with an interactive quiz and a printable worksheet with comprehension questions and an answer key.