Is it possible to make a hot air balloon envelope out of common camping tarp material?

Question

Is it possible to make a hot air balloon envelope out of common camping tarp material?

Answer 1

Yes it's possible but not practical. For one it would be awfully heavy, particularly in a size required for a manned balloon, plus most common tarps are not very fire resistant and a hot air balloon burner creates a tremendous amount of heat that wouldn't do it much good. Plus tarp material is generally not rip-stop and it also doesn't sew together very well, so you would have a lot of difficulty making a roughly spherical envelope that would hold up to the task asked of it.  And at least a dozen other reasons I can think of. Bad idea.

Answer 2

Well myth busters made a helium balloon from lead...so it is not imposable.  You can make a hot air balloon from a dry cleaning bag.  Close the top, use very light wire to hold the bottom open, attach some strings to the bottom, then make and attach an aluminum foil plate, put small fuel pellets or a small candle on it and let it fill up with hot air.