How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • BalloonblowerNYC
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2018
    • 145

    How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

    I found this here:

    Experiments measuring pressures inside of balloons as they are inflated, and trying some tricks popping nested balloons.More physics realted stuff at:http://...



    The interesting here for me is that the pressure to overcome to actually make a new balloon begin to inflate is nearly the same as at the moment it pops doing as b2p.

    And yes, I can feel the rising pressure to put more air in the balloon when it does not have manufacturing defects.
  • RubberTech
    Member
    • Jan 2022
    • 51

    #2
    Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

    A good production process maintains consistent thickness of the latex over the entire surface of the balloon. The pressure inside an inflated balloon is greater than the pressure outside it. The balloon is stable because the expanding force due to the pressure difference is balanced by the contracting force exerted by the surface tension of the rubber so if there is a thin spot in the latex then this area will be the first to fail and the surface tension will disperse from this point.

    Comment

    • RubberTech
      Member
      • Jan 2022
      • 51

      #3
      Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

      Here is a diagram showing what I'm talking about:

      Comment

      • RubberTech
        Member
        • Jan 2022
        • 51

        #4
        Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

        OK...here it is:
        Attached Files

        Comment

        • glovepopper
          Senior Member
          • May 2019
          • 198

          #5
          Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

          Two Modes of Balloon Bursting Revealed:
          A balloon with low internal pressure bursts through the growth of a single crack, but above a critical pressure, it breaks apart from multiple cracks.

          Comment

          • Scaredyburst
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2020
            • 101

            #6
            Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

            As far as I can remember from my A-level physics, the excess pressure (internal minus external) is 2T/r there T is the the surface tension (depending on the substance, thickness etc) , and r is the radius.

            Hence, for the same material, when the diameter is small, the excess pressure is high - hence the pressure inside modelling balloons (small radius) is very high - and almost impossible to inflate by mouth.
            🎈📌💥 🐕 🐖

            Comment

            • Scaredyburst
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2020
              • 101

              #7
              Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

              Funny, I was just thinking yesterday of doing a pressure versus diameter plot of my new balloons - cos the black ones were MUCH harder to blow up.

              Can you get pressure gauges of the right range easily?

              Black, dark green, red 12" balloons from the same ebay supplier.
              🎈📌💥 🐕 🐖

              Comment

              • glovepopper
                Senior Member
                • May 2019
                • 198

                #8
                Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                Originally posted by Scaredyburst
                Can you get pressure gauges of the right range easily?
                Use pressure gauge from sphygmomanometer unit - they are scaled in mmHg, but you can easily convert to other units.
                In my experiment 12" Belbal balloon burst at 55 mmHg.

                Comment

                • srob2
                  Senior Member
                  • Dec 2017
                  • 352

                  #9
                  Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                  That's around 1psi, I'd expect much higher

                  Comment

                  • Common Loon
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2020
                    • 232

                    #10
                    Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                    Originally posted by srob2
                    That's around 1psi, I'd expect much higher
                    Yeah it's kinda surprising but 1 psi isn't that uncommon a burst pressure for a latex balloon. Not as much overpressure as we often imagine. Though as was said upthread, that pressure varies inversely with the radius (or directly with the mean curvature of the balloon, which covers non-spherical shapes as well)... so if a 12" balloon bursts at 1 psi, a 6" of the same material and thickness would burst at 2 psi and so forth.

                    There's a YouTuber named hiyoko who has several "Balloon Test" videos B2P'ing balloons with a pressure and volume gauge attached, like this one:
                    video, sharing, camera phone, video phone, free, upload


                    Also an entire fetish studio has picked up on this trend, hehehe:

                    Comment

                    • aron_crow
                      Senior Member
                      • May 2020
                      • 152

                      #11
                      Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                      Love this thread. Some really interesting revelations.
                      This probably also explains why pin pops leaves big shreds and why sit pops breaks it into a million pieces.
                      Last edited by aron_crow; 28-02-2022, 09:14.

                      Comment

                      • RubberTech
                        Member
                        • Jan 2022
                        • 51

                        #12
                        Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                        The key parameter controlling the size of the shreds and the bursting of the balloon itself is not the internal pressure but the stress in the rubber membrane, which depends not only on the pressure but also on the thickness and curvature of the membrane. The higher this stress, the faster the crack moves to dissipate the stress when the balloon pops. But there's a limit to the speed a crack can travel through rubber so when the stress goes above this threshold, the only way the crack can dissipate stress faster is to split into more cracks. In other words, the higher the stress, the more elastic energy is stored in the balloon, and then the more numerous the fractures need to be to release the stored energy. So a balloon that is B2P will usually produce more smaller shreds and a balloon that is popped with a pin will release all its stress along two or three cracks and result in just a few large pieces.

                        Comment

                        • Asclepio
                          Senior Member
                          • Sep 2018
                          • 457

                          #13
                          Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                          Wow Rubbertech, your answers really exceed the average, thanks for explaining some physics to us mere mortals c:
                          A looner looking for fun, against violence or people with hightened moral idealism…. I just care about loons, so don’t ruin the fun.

                          Comment

                          • zhilman
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2018
                            • 147

                            #14
                            Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                            Originally posted by RubberTech
                            The key parameter controlling the size of the shreds and the bursting of the balloon itself is not the internal pressure but the stress in the rubber membrane, which depends not only on the pressure but also on the thickness and curvature of the membrane.
                            Does this means that at smaller sizes, if the balloon fails, the fracture will not result in shreds because of the high thickness of the balloon when it was small in size?

                            Comment

                            • RubberTech
                              Member
                              • Jan 2022
                              • 51

                              #15
                              Re: How about some scientific approach on balloon popping? :-)

                              At a smaller size there is not as much surface tension on the balloon membrane so the lower stress means the crack doesn't have to move as fast to dissipate the stress when the balloon pops. Also, at a smaller size or when underinflated, the cause of a failure is usually due to a flaw or weak point in the latex meaning the stress will dissipate along one or two cracks emanating from the weak point.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              😀
                              😂
                              🥰
                              😘
                              🤢
                              😎
                              😞
                              😡
                              👍
                              👎