General Information

We have compiled some general information on items of interest:

If you have any questions, we are always happy to assist you, you can email us at  sales@balloonevent.com.au  or call us anytime on 1300 135 845

Why do helium balloons float?

Helium balloons hold a magical quality for young and old. When you buy one, it floats above your head, gently moving in the breeze. If you pull the string tightly, it bobs up and down. If you let go, it flies away so quickly, your reflexes can't catch it. In a split second it has gone as you stand on the ground watching it floating away towards heaven, powerless to stop its progress. But why does it float?

Why does anything float?

We all know that things will float in water - somebody has even invented soap that floats in the bathtub. In a swimming pool or in the ocean, we can float so we know what it feels like to float. The reason why objects will float in water applies to air as well. Let's have a look at water flotation:

If you take an empty 2 litre soft drink bottle with the cap still on it is sealed full of air. Tie a string to the neck of the bottle and take it into a deep bath with you.
Pull the bottle down to the bottom of the bath and you will feel resistance from the bottle as it tries to float back to the surface. This is the same resistance you feel from a helium bottle.
Losen your grip on the bottle and it will start to rise, let go of the string and it will shoot straight to the top of the water.
The reason for this is because water is a fluid and the 2 litre bottle is displacing two litres of water. The bottle and the air in it weight very little, just a few grams, whereas the water that it is displacing weighs about 2 kg. The weight of the bottle and its contents is far less than the weight of the water it is displacing it will float. This is called the law of buoyancy.

Why does a helium balloon float?

The same principle applies to a helium balloon. Instead of floating in a sea of water, your balloon is floating in a sea of air. The helium balloon is displacing an amount of air because the gas 'helium' is much lighter than air.. While the balloon and it's helium contents are lighter than the air it is displacing it will float.

Why does it stop?

Balloons are made of a biodegradable substance called Latex, which comes from the sap of a rubber tree. The size of a latex molecule is much larger than a helium molecule. Once the balloon has been filled with helium, the gas starts to leach through the latex. In Australia, the flying time of a helium balloon will vary according to climate. You can generally expect to get at least 12 hours float time from a helium balloon. Balloon gas is a mixture of pure helium and air - as the helium leaches out of the balloon, the ratio of latex to air changes and the balloon becomes heavier and falls to the ground. All the helium will eventually leach out, leaving a balloon that is partially inflated with air.


The dangers of inhaling helium

Helium Inhalation - it's no laughing matter

Have you ever been to a party and inhaled helium in an attempt to sound like Donald Duck? If so, you have probably put your life at risk!

Evidence has proven that the inhalation of helium can be fatal, yet thousands of party goers continue to inhale helium thinking it to be incredibly funny rather than life threatening. The inhalation of helium cuts off a person's supply of oxygen and can cause dizziness, unconsciousness and ultimately death!

Doctors around Australia are concerned about the health risk associated with people inhaling helium. This is a particular problem when people are inebriated and their system is already contending with an outside influence.

According to Consultant Occupational Health Physician, Dr Greg McGroder, "Australians have not yet realised the extreme danger associated with helium inhalation. If the concentration of oxygen is decreased below 18% within the human body, symptoms and signs of Asphyxia can occur. Helium gas can totally displace the available oxygen and if this is maintained for even a few seconds, asphyxia and death can and will occur".

In 1898, fifteen year old Michelle Moreno from Texas died from helium inhalation at a friend's party. Her death caused major headlines regarding the dangers of helium inhalation. In Australia, Kristi Brash from Victoria had a near death experience when she appeared to freeze and turn blue after inhaling the entire contents of a balloon. Kristi fell motionless to the floor but luckily regained consciousness after a few minutes. Kristi was rushed to hospital and after examination she appeared to be fine although any long term affects of the inhalation are yet to be determined.

Comedy television and radio programmes often use helium as a device to get laughs. This portrays helium inhalation as a fun, safe practice when, in effect, it is deadly. Public figures are influential in the minds of the public and they need to realise that they could either die from helium use or be indirectly responsible for the death of another.

BOC Gases is deeply concerned about the misuse of Balloon Gas and is going to great efforts to inform the public that helium inhalation can be fatal. Unfortunately with people continuing to ignore the dangers of this potentially lethal practice, it is a difficult task to educate the public that HELIUM INHALATION IS NO LAUGHING MATTER!

Article courtesy of BOC Gases

Inhaling Helium from a balloon

A little-known aspect of inhaling helium is how quickly you may lose consciousness due to asphyxia (oxygen deprivation). During the exchange of gases in the normal breathing process, the blood stream absorbs oxygen from air in the lungs, while carbon dioxide passes from the blood to the air. When you hold your breath, the exchange of gases slows, as "stale" air in the lungs is no longer replaced by "fresh" air.

This process does not stop instantly, however. Some time will pass before you start to experience serious physical distress. For example, you would likely have time to pick up and put down an object, walk across a room, or find a chair and sit down before feeling compelled to breathe again.

However, when the lungs are filled with helium, a different process takes over. Oxygen is actually removed from the blood stream during the exchange of gases. Depending on how completely oxygen is replaced by helium, you may lose consciousness quickly and without warning—you may literally pass out while still standing. The usual result is an uncontrolled fall that can cause serious injury, even if normal breathing resumes before brain damage occurs due to lack of oxygen.

   
Inhaling Helium direct from the tank

A typical equipment to inflate helium balloons comprises a helium cylinder, shut-off valve, pressure flow regulator, and tilt valve with balloon adapter.

Such a system is designed to fill balloons rapidly. Typically, it delivers a maximum helium gas flow rate of approximately five cubic feet per minute (cfm). Maximum flow rate is determined by the pressure/flow regulator and cylinder pressure—normally several hundred pounds per square inch (psi).

Attempting to inhale helium from a commercial helium balloon filling system poses a greater hazard than does inhaling helium from a balloon. Beyond the risk of passing out, the potential for fatal injury is present. Unfortunately, several young people have been killed while inhaling helium from such a system.

How can a healthy young person be killed by a seemingly harmless substance, you ask? Postmortem examinations of victims explain what occurs, while engineering analysis explains how.

Chemical reaction does not cause fatal injuries. Rather, the pressure of gas inside the lungs is the agent that can kill instantly. Autopsies show that the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs have been ruptured. Death follows immediately, as the victims literally drown in their own blood. Under such circumstances, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is of no avail.

Articles courtesy of Compressed Gas Association

   
The Donald Duck Effect

The human voice originates when the stream of air flowing up the trachea undergoes pressure modulations as it passes between the vibrating vocal chords in the larynx. The sound produced consists of a fundamental frequency, which determines the voice's pitch, and harmonics (integral multiples) of this frequency. For adult males and females the average frequencies of the fundamentals are 130 hertz and 205 hertz, respectively. The amplitudes of the harmonics for vowel sounds vary approximately as the inverse of the 1.5 power of the order of the harmonic.

The sound that exits the mouth is the result of selective transmission by the configuration of the vocal tract (throat, mouth, and nasal cavities) produced by the tongue and lip constrictions. For any cavity, sound waves bouncing back and forth within it will interfere constructively for certain frequencies (the resonance frequencies) to produce a loud sound. The cavities in the vocal tract have such resonances, and the maxima in the sound transmission curve correspond to the resonance frequencies. Those harmonics near a resonance frequency of the vocal tract will be strongly transmitted, while the other harmonics will be damped. The lowest-frequency peak in the transmission curve is referred to as the fundamental, while the regions at the other peaks are called formants.

The fundamental frequency of a resonating cavity is directly proportional to the speed of sound in the gas occupying the cavity. But from the kinetic theory of gases, as well as direct measurements, we know that the speed of sound in an ideal gas (such as dry air) is proportional to the square root of the ratio T/M, where T is the absolute temperature of the gas and M is its molecular weight. For a fixed temperature and cavity volume, it is clear, therefore, that the speed of sound will be greatest for gases with the smallest molecular weights. For example, the speed of sound in dry air (M=28.964) at 0 degrees Celsius is 331.3 m/s. At this temperature in helium (M=4.003) the speed is 891.2 m/s. The resonance frequencies of the vocal tract, and hence the formants, are therefore almost 2.7 times higher for helium than for air. At a pressure of one atmosphere, with pure helium in your vocal tract instead of air, the pitch of your voice will be about two and a half octaves higher than usual (like Donald Duck's). For a helium-oxygen mixture containing 68% helium by volume, the pitch increase is only one and a half octaves.

Environment

History

Balloons - in one form or another - have been around for centuries.   But the modern latex balloon - the kind you can blow up yourself - was invented only a little more than 70 years ago in New England, USA.   A chemical engineer, frustrated in his attempts to make inner tubes from this new product - liquid latex - scrawled a cat's head on a piece of cardboard and dipped it in the latex.   When it dried, Neil Tillotson had a 'cat balloon' complete with ears.   He made about 2 000 balloons and sold them on the street during Boston's annual Patriot Day parade.  Latex balloons are still made from dipping forms into latex, but the process is now mechanised.

Early balloons were made from pig bladders and later from a rubber similar to that used to make gum boots.   Today's latex balloons are 100 per cent natural.   They are made from a milky substance from rubber trees.

 
In the late 1970's, silver metallised balloons were developed for the New York City Ballet.   These balloons are commonly called mylar, or foil balloons, but they are actually made from a metallised nylon and are more expensive than latex balloons. 
 

Balloons and the environment  

    
Manufacture

Latex balloons are produced from the milky sap of the rubber tree, Hevea brasillensis.   The rubber tree originated in the tropical forests of South America and was taken to Europe from Brazil - hence the Latin name.     It is now grown on plantations in many tropical countries.    The latex is collected in buckets, as it drips from harmless cuts in the bark.   The process is much like that used to collect maple syrup.    The use of latex balloons and other products, such as surgical gloves and condoms, make rubber trees economically valuable, which discourages people from cutting them down.

Latex is a major income producer in many third world countries.

      
Biodegradability

Latex is a 100 per cent natural substance that breaks down both in sunlight and water.   The degradation process begins almost immediately.   Oxidation, the "frosting" that makes latex balloons look as if they are losing their colour, is one of the first signs of the process.     Exposure to sunlight quickens the process, but natural microorganisms attack natural rubber, even in the dark.

Research shows that under similar environmental conditions, latex balloons will biodegrade at about the same rate as a leaf from a gum tree.   The actual total degradation time will vary depending the precise conditions.
  
Rain Forests

Rubber trees, from which the latex for balloons is harvested, are one of the main forms of vegetation in tropical rain forests, which in recent years have become crucial to maintaining the earth's fragile ecological balance.     Harvesting latex can be more profitable to poor third world nations than raising cattle on the deforested land.

Even when the trees producing latex for balloon manufacturing grow on plantations instead of in rain forests, they help the ecosystem, as the natural biology of the trees helps maintain our atmosphere and protect the ozone layer.

Save the rain forests - buy a balloon

Balloons that Fly

Often latex balloons are released either on purpose or accidentally.  Research shows that most of these latex balloons - the ones that are well tied and have no structural flaws - rise to an altitude of about ten kilometres where they freeze, breaking into spaghetti-like pieces that scatter as they return to earth.     While we do know that animals occasionally eat these soft slivers of rubber, the evidence indicates the pieces ultimately pass through the digestive system without harming the animal.

Balloon Event Company is aware of its social obligations and has an obligation to ensure that customers are aware of the best use of the product- we hand ties all balloons.

We also recommend air filled balloons on sticks as an environmentally safe alternative to helium balloons