this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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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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[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Look up voronoi noise, its exactly this scenario, circles or spheres in random assortment expanding to form straight edges against eachother. Its a pattern that often shows up in nature for that reason.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, this is the sort of thing I'm thinking. Would then the balloons be unable to pop since they'd be perfectly supported? I feel the pressure in adjacent balloons would equalise so no one balloon could grow enough to break.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Hard to say. With weights being distributed randomly i dont know if it would naturally equalize like that, or if there might be random pockets of increased or decreased pressure, or something might slip. Variables like weak spots in the rubber, friction and static. Needs testing