Students in Orcutt Academy High School’s geology and physics classes will take part in an atmospheric data collection project, as part of the school’s annual Balloon Fest on Thursday, Dec. 9, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Giant atmospheric weather balloons (with 7-foot diameters) will lift student-designed experiments 300 feet into the air to collect real-time atmospheric data, ranging from ultra-violet radiation to the adiabatic temperature lapse rate. After analyzing their collected date, students will share their findings among one another.
This year’s two-day event was scheduled to kick off on Wednesday, Dec. 8, in which physics students planned to use the festival’s weather balloons to drop a series of simulated lunar landers from an altitude of 91 meters. For more info on the 2021 Balloon Fest, visit orcutt-schools.net. Orcutt Academy High School is located at 610 Pinal Ave., Orcutt.
This article appears in Dec 9-16, 2021.
