Show Bring Science Home A pressure-filled science project from Science Buddies
Key Concepts Physics Gas Pressure Volume Boyle's Law Introduction Background You can observe a real-life application of Boyle's Law when you fill your bike tires with air. When you pump air into a tire, the gas molecules inside the tire get compressed and packed closer together. This increases the pressure of the gas, and it starts to push against the walls of the tire. You can feel how the tire becomes pressurized and tighter. Another example is a soda bottle. To get carbon dioxide gas into the liquid, the whole bottle is usually pressurized with gas. As long as the bottle is closed, it is very hard to squeeze, as the gas is confined to a small space and pushes against the bottle's walls. When you remove the cap, however, the available volume increases and some of the gas escapes. At the same time its pressure decreases. One important demonstration of Boyle's law is our own breathing. Inhaling and exhaling basically means increasing and decreasing the volume of our chest cavity. This creates low pressure and high pressure in our lungs, resulting in air getting sucked into our lungs and leaving our lungs. In this activity you will create your own demonstration of Boyle's law. Materials
Observations and Results The results look different with the water-filled balloon. Although you are compressing the air inside the syringe when pressing on the plunger, the water inside the balloon does not get compressed. The balloon stays the same size. The water balloon also keeps its shape when pulling out the plunger while closing the tip of the syringe. In contrast to gases, liquids are not compressible as their particles are already very close together. Boyle's law only applies to gases. If you filled the syringe with water as well, you should still have seen the air-filled balloon shrinking while pushing the plunger into the syringe. The air-filled balloon also should have expanded when pulling the plunger out while the tip of the syringe was closed. You might have noticed, though, that you were not able to push and pull the plunger in and out as far as you could with the air-filled syringe. This is again because of the fact that liquids cannot be compressed like gases. You should have observed that also when trying to push the plunger in or pull it back in the water-filled syringe with the water-filled balloon. It was probably impossible to move the plunger in and out! More to Explore This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies Discover world-changing science. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. Subscribe Now!
Cold weather can be the bain of your life when you are a balloon business owner! In fact any extreme of temperature has its challenges. In this blog we are going to look at what effect the cold has on balloons and most importantly what you can do to minimise the problems in your business and keep your customers happy! I will never forget the first time I went to deliver a balloon in the cold of winter. As I stepped out of my front door the balloon literally seemed to deflate in my hands! I couldn’t believe it! Had I caught it on something on the way out?! How could this be happening just as I was going to deliver!!! I quickly ran back indoors to inspect the balloon but it seemed to be firm again a few minutes later… I stepped outside again only for the exact same thing to happen! Now I was in a state of shock! What should I do? Attempt to make the delivery and hand over a shriveled up balloon hoping it would inflate again when I got there or ring the customer and cancel? I know from talking to balloon business owners after the last few years it’s a situation many of us find ourselves in when first starting out and can come as a bit of a shock! So let’s look at why it happens and what we can do to prepare for this situation… Why Do Balloons Deflate in the Cold?Whether you fill your balloons with helium or air you are essentially filling them with a form of gas. Lots of molecules are needed to fill the capacity of the balloon. These molecules are susceptible to temperature. If they get cold the molecules will get smaller and if they get hot the molecules will get bigger. There is still the same number of molecules in the balloon but their change in size means the volume they occupy changes too. They also lose energy and tend to stop whizzing around and clump together in one place. This is why when a foil balloon gets cold it appears to shrivel up around the edges as if deflated… the molecules of the gas inside have reacted to the cold, contracted, and clumped together making their volume much smaller than the amount to fill the capacity of the balloon. When you take them back indoors where it’s warmer the molecules react to the temperature, expand and start whizzing around again so increasing their volume and filling the balloon to capacity again. The molecules of air are much bigger to start with than the molecules of helium which are tiny. Both can be affected by the cold but helium is affected much more so than air. Why Don’t Balloons Always Re-inflate Fully When Warmed?All balloons are porous – this means they have tiny microscopic holes in their surface through which gases can escape. You can’t see them but they are there… That’s why all balloons will deflate over time and can’t float forever! Latex balloons are more porous than foils or bubbles but eventually, the molecules of the gas inside will escape and the balloon will deflate. Helium molecules are much smaller than air molecules so can escape through the tiny holes much easier than air molecules. This is why air-filled designs last so much longer than helium-filled balloon designs. When gas molecules come in contact with the cold and they shrink in size it makes it so much easier for them to escape through the tiny holes in the balloon. The longer they are in the cold the more molecules that can escape. If a balloon is left out in the cold for too long before being brought back into the warm the number of molecules in the balloon will have reduced. Even though the molecules will expand again there will be less of them so the balloon does not completely re-inflate to the same size it was before it was taken into the cold. This can affect air-filled designs and helium-filled designs but helium is already much smaller so they are far less likely to “plump” back up if left out in the cold too long before coming back into the warm. What Effect Can the Cold Have on Your Balloon Designs?Apart from the fact it can cause your balloons to shrivel there are other things to consider when taking balloon designs out into the cold. The cold doesn’t just affect the balloon itself but also other aspects of the design. Preparing Balloons During Cold Weather – Top TipsNow we understand why and how the cold affects balloons let’s look at what we can do to reduce the problems, reduce the stress and ensure we have happy customers. It all starts with the preparation of the balloon design. Transporting Balloons in Cold Weather – Essentials.Preparing Your Customers to Look After Their BalloonsCustomers don’t understand balloons – they most definitely don’t understand the effect of temperature on balloons! It’s essential you prepare them so they know how to look after their balloons or you will get a message complaining their balloons have deflated! I hope you found this blog post useful! If you are looking for more advice and top tips to running your balloon business and avoiding the common pitfalls that cause stress and loss of money check out Starting a Balloon Business: The Ultimate Guide – It’s packed full with oodles of advice and top tips to help you start and grow a balloon business! Feedback helps me stay motivated and keep creating posts to help you in your business so please comment below and let me know your thoughts and any top tips you might have on dealing with cold weather in your business! Until next time.. Stay Amazing!
Hi there! It’s so great to have you here! Having grown my own balloons and venue decor business I now really want to help you grow a profitable and successful business too! I can’t wait to see where your journey takes us! Make sure you come join us in the FREE community Balloon Biz Academy Community and accelerate the growth of your business – The Quick and Easy Way!Until next time… Stay Amazing!Sonia x |