Just how high can weather balloons go before it pops? In this post, we would like to take you on a deep journey of the lifespan of a weather balloon. Keep in mind, all weather balloons are different along with the conditions at every launch. From till now, scientists have been launching balloons whether they be full of hot air, hydrogen, or helium. These specific gases were chosen because of their light weight. The balloons have been used to make meteorological measurements for centuries.
When you decide to launch your first weather balloon , you may notice a few things. There may be some extra room for more gas inside the anchored balloon. Air rises to the surface of water because it is lighter than water.
One could also say that the water sinks below the air. Oil floats on water because it has a lower density than water. Balloons that are light enough, for example those that are filled with a type of gas that is lighter than air, like helium, have the same tendency to rise into the air, if they are not restrained. It is said that buoyancy or upward force, pulls objects like balloons up into the air. Buoyancy results from the fact that the atmosphere is in a field of gravity, where the force is in direct proportion to the mass of the atmosphere that an object displaces.
Gravity exerts a pull on the air in the balloon, the balloon itself and anything that may be attached to the balloon. The greater the altitude, the lower the density of the atmosphere. If a light balloon does not change in any way, it will eventually reach a height where the buoyancy related to the air it displaces no longer exceeds the pull of gravity. The balloon stops rising. Balloon expansion and maximum height As balloons rise, air pressure around them diminishes.
When the ballon is made of elastic material, it expands because of the excess pressure inside. Its volume increases and its internal pressure decreases.
As it expands, its buoyancy increases, but not the pull of gravity, so it continues to rise as a result of the expansion. So, generally speaking, balloons that can expand will rise higher than those that have small expansion potential.
That means no bits of ribbon or plastic disks end up in the environment and the balloon industry argues that balloons themselves are harmless for two reasons.
First of all, only one hundred percent biodegradable latex balloons are used in mass releases. Research showed that these balloons degrade about as quickly as an oak leaf under similar conditions. But opponents argue that a balloon floating in the ocean would take a lot longer to degrade than it would on land.
While it's hard to know whether balloons that have turned up in the stomachs of dead marine animals caused their death, the presence of a ribbon would be a very useful piece of information. The other argument is that helium balloons are claimed to reach a height of anywhere up to ten kilometres before shattering into tiny little pieces. These pieces, it is said, would be too small to pose a threat to animals. Now the shattering effect sounds reasonable for two reasons.
One is that atmospheric pressure is dramatically reduced at high altitudes, so a helium balloon expands as it rises and eventually explodes. If you inflate a balloon beyond its limits at room temperature, it will break into small pieces up to about ten centimetres long.
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