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can the weight of millions of balloons be heavy enough to pop the balloons at the bottom? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Like, say you had a grain silo or some theoretical structure that would allow you to fill the structure as high as you wanted, full of balloons, all inflated with regular air, not helium.

Is there a point where the balloons' collective miniscule weight would be enough to pop the balloons on the bottom? Or would they just bounce/float on top of each other forever and ever?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Each balloon adds about 3.5 grams of pressure to the balloons below it (at least according to this experiment), so it's safe to assume the balloons at the bottom would eventually have enough weight on top for them to pop. I couldn't find any reliable info on how much pressure it takes for a balloon to pop though.

It's not much different from popping a balloon with your feet - you increase the pressure until the balloon pops. Same thing is happening here, just with more balloons instead of... feet...? I phrased that poorly, but you get the idea.