Introduction to Balloons
The word ‘Balloons’ conjures up thoughts in your mind of simple balloons you inflate for children’s parties, or balloons that fly off on their own, or the special balloons for big events like the ones produced for the wedding of Charles and Diana? There are so many different types of balloons on the market that you can get almost anything for any event you want. Balloons are a bright, bouncy item that can be used for lots of different purposes, including children’s or adult parties, product launches for advertising or promotional events.
When you think about it, a balloon is a very strange item. It is something that stretches when filled with air or some other type of gas, such as Helium or hydrogen and is very fragile so that it can easily pop. The very first balloons would have been made with non-elastic material but modern dayballoons have great elasticity because they are made of Latex and can be pumped up to create much larger sizes than earlier ones.
Balloon History
The initial known balloons were very simple in that they were made out of the bowels of cats. The Aztec Indians in Central and Southern America carefully cleaned out the cat gut, turned it inside out and sewed it with special vegetable thread that stuck to itself when dried in the sun creating an almost airtight seal. The balloons were shaped into model animals and then filled with air to be burnt on the top of the Aztec pyramid as an offering to the sun god. This is the first recorded history of balloon modelling.
The first public exhibition of a balloon was at the Portuguese Court in Lisbon in 1809 by a Portuguese priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmao, and was most likely to be made from an animal bladder that stretched when filled with air. The modern rubber balloon was invented in eighteen twenty four by Michael Faraday the renowned English chemist and physicist who invented, amongst other many other things, the Faraday cage and he also made huge contributions to the fields electromagnetism and electrochemistry. The balloons Faraday used were filled with hydrogen for his science experiments with Hydrogen, but the more common Latex balloon did not appear until eighteen forty seven. Although the Latex balloon was manufactured in London in the mid eighteen hundreds and early rubber balloons were sold in America in parks and circuses for a penny each; the mass production of them did not occur until 100 years later in nineteen thirty one.
The world of balloons became more advanced as they developed in line with technology. Now balloons are made from rubber Latex, polychloroprene or nylon and may be inflated with air, Helium, hydrogen or water. Inflating the balloon with air can be done with the mouth, a manual hand pump, electric inflator, foot pump or with compressed gas. Balloons are used for various differing purposes, and decorated in numerous ways to fit the occasion.
Some balloons are purely for decoration, others are ideal for specialist purposes because of their low density and are relatively cheap to procure. The balloon’s properties have led to them being used in a wide range of other applications in the areas of meteorology, military defence, medical treatment, and transportation.
Different Balloon Types
Good Old Party Balloons
The most common types of balloons are the ones we are used to seeing at parties, particularly a child’s party. These are usually bought in small packets and blown up by Mum’s and Dad’s or with a pump to create a festive scene for children’s parties and other kinds of celebratory events. These days you often see a cluster of balloons at the entrance to a house or hall to indicate where the party is being held, it has almost become a universal indicator of a party in progress! The balloons come in varying sizes and colours and can have printing on sometimes which expands as the balloon is inflated. Party balloons are almost always made of natural Latex tapped from rubber trees. The rubber’s elasticity makes the size variable. Balloons filled with air will hold their size and shape much longer than those filled with Helium.This is because Helium particles are so small they can escape between the Latex molecules, apparently!
Giant balloons will make a brilliant feature of children’s parties to help make it an exciting event.
Mylar(Foil) Balloons
The foil balloon or Mylar balloons first appeared during the late 1970s. They are much more high priced than Latex balloons and are made of thin non-stretch metalized plastic film or Mylar. The first time I remember them being used a major event was when they made an appearance at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and they caused quite a stir. Mylar balloons have attractive glossy reflective texture and can be supplied with colour pictures, logos and styles to customise them. The most important characteristic of metalized nylon for balloons is its ability to retain the Helium gas from leaking for several weeks because it is less porus. Foil balloons also have the benefit of being light weight, longer-lasting with greater buoyancy. They are perfect for extraordinary celebrations, in-store displays, parties and for gifts. At our gran’s ninetieth birthday party in April our auntie brought along a foil balloon with 90 printed on it to add to the festive occasion.
Animal-Shaped Balloons
Balloons shaped like animals are ade from metalized nylon which can easily be cut into pieces so that when pressed together they make the three dimensional shapes of animals. Screen printing the appropriate design on the model, makes the chosen animal come realistically alive. Once inflated, these exclusive pieces make a very bright decorative show for that special event. Balloons shaped like animals may be used as gifts or as a talking point at your special event.
Balloon Rockets
Inflating a balloon and letting it go without tying it is as game most children play at some time or another (and adults too)! The rude noise it makes always has most people falling about laughing as it shoots about the place. This game is an experiment in how a rocket works and they are called balloon rockets. As a youngster I can remember being enthralled as I learned how they worked.
When the top of the balloon is released, the balloon contracts so that the higher pressure of air inside is forced out causing the balloon to be propelled forward. This is basically how a rocket works. The balloon can also be filled with different gases other than air, producing the same results. Balloon rockets are a widely used a teaching device to show the principles in physics of the operation of a rocket. The balloon rocket is also frequently used to demonstrate Newton’s third law in physics.
Balloons and Water
The water balloons are obviously filled with water and are intended for children to chuck at each other as a game or practical joke with the aim of getting each other wet. They are often smaller than regular balloons and made from thiner rubber so that they can be easily broken. Water balloons are often used in competitions or games.
Helium Balloons
The reason Helium balloons float up is because they are filled with Helium gas which is lighter than air. So for an event where balloons are set off into the atmosphere, they will all be Helium filled balloons. If the Helium balloons are rubber balloons they will only retain their buoyancy for a few days. This is because the Latex has pores that are larger than the enclosed Helium atoms so the Helium gradually escapes. To increase the buoyancy period of a Helium balloon the inside of the balloons can be coated with a special polymer solution which lessens the leakage of the Helium for a week or more. The vendor who supplies Helium balloons will usually be able to get hold of balloon gas cylinders to compliment their orders for Helium balloons.
Balloon Sculptures
Balloon Sculptures are made from 100’s of balloons to create a solid structure such as a balloon arch, wall or statute. Other shapes are more difficult, but on occasion more ambitious sculptures have been built so they are possible. These works of art are usually made and designed by professional balloon modellers as it is a very skilled job. Balloon sculptures are really quite limited because of the shape of the balloons but with clever colour choice simple arches or walls can make an impressive design at your gathering. The balloons need to be precision filled with exactly the same amount of gas and to do this professional balloon party decorators use electronic equipment to deliver the exact amount of Helium into the balloon. For non-floating balloons air inflators are used. Professional grade balloons differ from most retail packet balloons as they are bigger in size, stronger and made from one hundred percent biodegradable Latex. Sometimes Helium balloons are used as table decorations for special events which may have three or five balloons with an arrangement of flowers. The decoration will usually include curled ribbon with an added weight to stop the balloons from floating away.
Modelling and Art with Balloons
Balloon modelling is a fantastic entertainment for children and adults alike and is not to be confused with balloon sculptures discussed previously. The Latex employed by balloon modellers is made of extra-stretchy rubber so that it can be twisted and shaped and tied without popping when making the balloon model. A Balloon modelling artist twists and ties the inflated modelling balloons into shapes of animals, people or hats. When I have watched these artists at work I am always anxious that the balloons will pop when they are twisting and tying their handy work. These tiny tubular balloons are extremely tricky to inflate and usually need a pump to get them started.
Balloon Drops
I am sure you will have been to a party or dance where at the end of the night lots of balloons fall from the ceiling to create excitement and fun amongst the party guests. This is known as a balloon drop and is often performed at events such as New Year’s Eve celebrations or at political rallies and conventions. It is a relatively low cost way of generating a festive atmosphere at the party climax, so everyone goes away feeling they have had a really great evening. By printing messages or logos on the balloons they can also be an advertising tool at the event.
It is easy enough to setup your own balloon drop for your special event providing you have a room with high enough ceilings. To begin with you will need to set up a large plastic bag or net overhead, which is suspended at the required height, to hold the balloons. Get your other organisers to help with blowing up balloons as it can take quite a while to do the number needed. Then pile the inflated balloons into the container and make sure the opening works so that the balloons will drop onto the target area below when they are released. You will also need to create a mechanism for releasing the balloons. Balloon drops Can also be employed for many other celebrations, including graduations and weddings.
Balloon decorators often create several balloons arches creating a tunnel effect at the entrance to the venue.
Releasing Balloons on Mass
Due to concerns about the effect on the environment of a large amount of balloons being released, the NABAS – The Balloon Association have produced a code of conduct which can be found on their website at www.nabas.co.uk
If you are preparing a balloon race in excess of 5,000 balloons, it is a condition that you apply in writing for permission to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at least 28 days before the event. The CAA also like to be notified about balloon races involving less than 5,000. An application form can be acquired by calling either the NABAS office on 01989 762 204 or the Airspace Utilisation Section of the CAA on 020 7453 6599
Environmental Concerns and Balloon Safety
Latex is a natural product from rubber trees that are grown in certain areas of the tropics, so balloons are actually environmentally friendly being manufactured from natural rubber Latex (NRL). These trees are not cleared to extract the NRL. The NRL is released by tapping mature plants and is an vital sustainable crop providing work for many agricultural labourers in some of the poorest areas of the world. Latex is a sustainable crop that is good for the environment and the economy of the country in which the rubber trees are grown.
The planting and maintenance of rubber tree plantations contributes towards the prevention of tropical rainforest deforestation. Without the cultivation and the consumption of Latex products the plantations might easily become yet another target of the clearance of land for arable use. One of the great by-products of NRL cultivation is the appreciable contribution to the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere that is produced by industrialised nations and is a major source of global warming.
Conclusion
The toy balloon has been a source of delight and excitement for many years at celebratory events such as parties, product launches and conferences throughout the world. They have been an educational tool as well as providing hours of fun and interest for children and adults alike. Non toy balloons are used for experiments in science, as an aid for heart repair in medicine and even as a form of travel as in the hydrogen air ship idea. Balloons are invaluable in helping us to learn about our world and some of the properties of physics.
A world without balloons would be a much poorer place and balloons will remain an active part of the world’s makeup for many years to come.