Alright, folks, today was a wild one. Seriously got me wondering – can those party balloons actually make it to space? Sounds crazy, right? But hey, gotta try things myself, so I went out and did it.
Startin’ Simple (And Failin’)
Grabbed some cheap party balloons first. Figured, why not? Tied them tight, filled them with good ol’ helium. Watched them zoom up. Looked awesome! Thought maybe… just maybe… But nope. Got pretty high, I’ll give ’em that, then suddenly… pop! Like tiny explosions way up there. Guess those flimsy things just couldn’t handle it. Cold or pressure or whatever – just kept popping.
Diggin’ Deeper
Fine. Cheap balloons are bust. Time for homework. Stumbled upon these big, tough weather balloons online. Learned they’re made for going way, way higher. Took forever to find where normal folks could actually buy just one or two without needing a science grant!
Next problem: How would I even know where this thing went? Needed something to track it. Found GPS trackers meant for stuff like this – expensive little gadgets. Then realized I needed a way to attach it safely and keep the tracker working when it got super cold. More digging, more head-scratching.
Building the Beast
Got the big weather balloon. Much thicker rubber, felt serious. This time, used way more helium than the party guys needed. Felt it stretching tight. Attached the GPS tracker inside a little foam box I rigged up for insulation. Tied everything super secure. Definitely felt like I was sending something important.
Let it go. Hoo boy. That monster shot up faster than anything I’d seen. Straight up, barely slowing down. Way faster than the little ones. Had my phone tracking the GPS signal.
Watching (and Waiting)
Tracked the dot on my map. It went super high, super fast. Higher than planes fly, that’s for sure. GPS kept working – my little foam box idea actually did the trick! Relief.
But then, something happened. After climbing like crazy for ages… it stopped going up. Just kinda hung out at a super high spot. Then, it started slowly falling. Not popping, just… sinking. Waited ages, watching it drift down miles and miles away.
The Hunt and The Huh
Drove out to where the tracker landed. Found it tangled in a tree, near some farm fields. The big balloon? It was just limp. Not popped, but totally deflated, like a giant wrinkled raisin. Not a single rip. Just… empty.
What Actually Happened (The Real Truth)
So here’s the real kicker, what I figured out after seein’ it myself:
- Space is crazy high, way higher than you think: That balloon got insanely high – like, way above jets, seriously high up. But still not space. There’s still a little bit of air way up there, turns out.
- Pressure beats the balloon: As it went up, air pressure got super thin outside. The pressure inside the helium balloon was still pushing outwards hard. That thin rubber just couldn’t hold it forever. Eventually, it stretched and stretched until… the helium molecules just squeezed right through the rubber and leaked out! No pop, just a slow leak. Who knew?
- Stops climbing, starts floating: When enough helium leaked out? The weight of the balloon skin and my tracker gear finally balanced the tiny bit of lift left. So it stopped going up. Then, eventually leaked enough to sink back down gently on its own.
Bottom line? Your party balloons never had a shot. These tough professional weather balloons? They climb incredible distances, feel like they’re heading for the stars, but nope. They’ll never actually punch through into space. The air thins out, but it never completely vanishes up there where you’d need it to for space. Plus, the balloon itself physically gives up and leaks before that point. Space stays well out of reach for a rubber balloon, no matter how tough or how full of helium it starts.
Wild ride, seriously. Learned tons trying it. Turns out, space doesn’t start just ’cause things get really high up. Physics is sneaky.