Why was hydrogen used in Hindenburg?

Answer 1

Hydrogen gas is only 7% as dense as atmospheric air, and is as half as dense as helium gas. As a result, a suitable container, such as a balloon, has a significant boyancy force in air when filled with hydrogen. The Hindenburg, and other airships of its time, had large bladders lashed to the airship's structure. When filled filled with hydrogen, the boyancy of these bladders was such that they could lift not only their own weight, but also the weight of the entire ship, crew, passengers, and cargo.

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Back in the middle 1930s, if you were wealthy enough to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, there were two choices - noisy, small and cramped aeroplanes, or quiet and spacious airships that got their lift from huge bladders filled with hydrogen gas. Back then, it was still an even bet as to which technology would win in the long run - the faster and noisy aeroplanes, or the slower and more relaxed Lighter-Than-Air airships.

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The answer was settled in favour of the aeroplanes in 1937, when the enormous Nazi hydrogen-filled airship, the Hindenburg, slowly maneuvered in to dock at a 50-metre high mast at the Lakehurst Air Base, in New Jersey. This was its 21st crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Suddenly, there was a spark on the Hindenberg, and then flames. Newsreel film crews captured the sudden disaster as the Hindenburg burst into enormous plumes of red-yellow flames, and collapsed to the ground. Over thirty of the 97 people on board died. The disaster was blamed on the extreme flammability of the hydrogen lifting gas that filled most of the airship.

Answer 2

Hydrogen was used as a lifting gas in the Hindenburg airship because it is extremely buoyant and lighter than air. At the time, helium, a safer alternative, was scarce and expensive. However, the flammability of hydrogen ultimately led to the Hindenburg disaster in 1937.