Comment by jammi
7 years ago
That’s just because rubber balloons are extremely porous, especially when stretched. They don’t hold other gases well either.
7 years ago
That’s just because rubber balloons are extremely porous, especially when stretched. They don’t hold other gases well either.
Helium balloons are commonly made out of Mylar instead of rubber, and can keep inflated for weeks.
The type intended for keeping around / in a shop for longer time are, but the children's party type often are inflated on the spot.
Completely irrelevant, yet amusing: At a former employer, we had access to what can only be described as unlimited supplies of hydrogen.
This led - in addition to lots and lots of eardrum-splitting workshop pranks - the occasional kids' party balloons being inflated with hydrogen. (As it was free, which He definitely isn't. HS&E be damned.)
A then colleague of mine claimed they'd cracked a window and caused instant panic at his son's birthday party when a bright spark decided to put a balloon to a lit candle to show the other kids it'd pop.
I doubt the cracked window (given a standard party balloon is pretty small - and a cracked window would likely mean lots of -ahem- eardrum deficiency in the assembled crowd) - but I can imagine it got the kids' attention all right when the balloon more or less exploded.
(We did crack a couple of windows in the workshop, though - you'd be amazed at the bang a litter bag filled with a hyd/ox mixture can produce if set alight.)
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