[ELI5] how do hot air balloons even work? How do they know where they’re going without steering?
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The short answer is that they have no direct control of where they’re going. The long answer is that with special instrumentation and knowledge of weather patterns, they can generally get around by changing their altitude. Like for example if you know that there’s a wind blowing east at around 100m of altitude and you want to go east, you go up to 100m. This means that accurate weather predictions and real time weather information is crucial for a flight. Flights can be planned according to weather forecasts and cancelled if the expected weather is not right.
Generally speaking due to the coriolis effect, which is the apparent movement over the earth combined with the spin of the Earth, it’s possible to “steer” the balloon somewhat by going high enough where the wind is more consistent and basically turn east due to this effect, which is a combination of the wind direction and the earth moving out from under you. If you have a rudimentary ability to steer, up in the air it’s enough since you can make a right turn or make “three right turns” until you’re pointing left.
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