Introduction to Balloons
The word ‘Balloons’ conjures up images 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 available that you can get almost anything for any event you want.
When you think about it, a balloon is quite an odd item. It is something that expands 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-stretch material but modern dayballoons have great elasticity because they are made of Latex and can be filled up to create much larger sizes than earlier ones. Balloons come in many different sizes and colours and can brighten up any event and promote a festive atmosphere.
Balloons Throughout 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 stitched 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 without doubt the earliest use of balloon modelling. Early balloons were made of animal guts and were turned into play things for the local youngsters.
The first public demonstration of a balloon was at the Portuguese Court in Lisbon in seventeen hundred and nine by a Portuguese priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmao, and was probably likely to be made from an animal bladder that stretched when filled with air. The modern rubber balloon was invented in 1824 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 1847. Although the Latex balloon was manufactured in London in the mid 1800’s and early rubber balloons were sold in America in parks and circuses for a penny each; the mass production of them did not appear until 100 years later in 1931.
The balloon industry 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. Filling 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 suit the occasion.
Some balloons are purely for decoration, others are ideal for individual functions 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 Types of Balloons
Good Old Party Balloons
The most widely recognised types of balloons are the ones we are used to seeing at parties, particularly a child’s party. These are often bought in small packets and blown up by volunteers 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 balloon cluster 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 many different sizes and colours and can have printing on them which expands as the balloon is blown up. Party balloons are generally made of natural Latex tapped from rubber trees. The rubber’s elasticity makes the dimensions variable. Balloons filled with air will hold their size and shape much longer than those filled with Helium.
Get something unique made by specifying printed balloons a great way to really make that special party or event.
Foil Balloons
The foil balloon or Mylar balloons first appeared during the late 1970s. They are much more costly than Latex balloons and are made of thin non-stretch metalized plastic film or Mylar. The first time I had ever seen them was when they made an appearance at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and they caused quite a stir. Mylar balloons have a nice high gloss reflective finish and can be printed with colour pictures, logos and patterns to customise them. The most useful attribute of metalized nylon for balloons is its propensity to retain the Helium gas from leaking for several weeks because it is less permeable. Foil balloons also have the advantage of being light weight, longer-lasting with greater buoyancy. They are ideal for special celebrations, in-store decorations, parties and for gifts. At our granny’s ninetieth birthday party in April my son’s financee brought along a foil balloon with 90 printed on it to add to the occasion .Mylar balloons or foil balloons can also be cut into animal shapes and can be printed with logos to advertise a new product.
Balloons in Animal Shapes
Balloons in animal shapes are ade from metalized nylon which can easily be cut into pieces so that when sewn 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 pieces make a very bright decorative show for that special event. Balloons in animal shapes may be used as gifts or as a talking point at your special event. Balloons shaped like animals can make a great birthday gift for a child as an extra surprise.
Balloon Rockets
Blowing up a balloon and releasing it go without tying it is as game most youngsters enjoy at some time or another (and adults too)! The rude noise it makes always has everyone falling about laughing as it shoots around the building in a random manner. This activity is an experiment in how a rocket works and they are called balloon rockets. As a child I can remember being intrigued as I learned how they worked.
When the mouth of the balloon is let-go, the elasticity of the balloon contracts so that the higher pressure of air inside is forced out causing the balloon to be propelled forward. This is essentially 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 reveal the principles in laws of nature of the operation of a rocket. The balloon rocket is also regularly used to demonstrate Newton’s third law in physics. Children can have hours of fun playing with balloons as a balloon rocket. The unpredictability of where they will go adds excitement to the fun.
Water Balloons
The water balloons are obviously filled with water and are intended for children to throw at each other as a game or practical joke with the aim of getting each other drenched. They are quite often not as big as normal balloons and made from thiner rubber so that they can be easily broken. Water balloons are often used in competitions or games.
Balloons Filled with Helium Gas
The reason Helium balloons float in to the sky is because they are filled with Helium gas which is less dense 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 usually only retain their buoyancy for a few days. This is because the Latex has pores that are bigger than the enclosed Helium atoms so the Helium gradually seeps out. To increase the flight time 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. For conferences or a award ceremony, ordering wholesale balloons can reduce your costs considerably.
Balloon Sculpting
Balloon Sculptures are made from hundreds 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 constructed so they are possible. These sculptures are usually made and designed by professional party decorators as it is a 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 special event. The balloons need to be precision filled and to do this professional balloon party decorators use precision pumps to deliver the exact amount of Helium into the balloon. For non-floating balloons air inflators are used. Industrial quality balloons differ from most retail packet balloons as they are larger 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 3 or 5 balloons with an arrangement of flowers. The decoration will generally include curled ribbon tied to a weight to stop the balloons from floating away.
Balloon Modelling and Balloons in Art
Balloon modelling is a popular entertainment for children and adults alike and is not to be confused with balloon sculptures discussed previously. The Latex used for balloon modelling is made of extra-stretchy rubber so that it can be manipulated and tied without bursting when making the balloon model. A Balloon modelling artist pulls and twists the inflated tubular balloons into shapes of animals, people or hats. When you watch a balloon modeller at work you half expect that the balloons will pop when they are twisting and tying their creations. These tiny tubular balloons are extremely difficult to inflate and often need a pump to get them started.
Dropping Lots of Balloons from a Net
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 audience. This is known as a balloon drop and is often performed at parties such as New Year’s Eve celebrations or at political rallies and conventions. It is a relatively low budget way of making a festive atmosphere at the party climax, so everyone goes home 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 possible to create your own balloon drop for that special event providing you have a room with high enough ceilings. Firstly you will need to set up a large plastic bag or net overhead, which is suspended at the required height. Get your friends to help with inflating balloons as it can take quite a while to do the number needed. Then insert the inflated balloons into the container and make sure the opening works so that the balloons will fall onto the target area below when they are let go. You will also need to create a mechanism for releasing the balloons, and make sure you have thoroughly tested it so everything goes to plan at the big moment.
Occasionally advertising balloons are inflated with Helium so that they will rise to make the greatest impact on the public.
Mass Balloon Releases
Due to concerns about the bearing on the environment of a large number of balloons being released, the NABAS - The Balloon Association have produced a code of practise which can be found on their website at www.nabas.co.uk
If you are arranging a balloon release 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 in advance. The CAA also like to be notified about balloon races involving less than 5,000. An application form can be obtained by calling either the NABAS office on 01989 762 204 or the Airspace Utilisation Section of the CAA on 020 7453 6599
Balloons, the Environment and Balloon Safety
Latex is an organic product from rubber trees that are grown in certain regions of the tropics, so balloons are actually environmentally friendly being made of natural rubber Latex (NRL). These trees are not harvested to extract the NRL. The NRL is obtained by tapping mature plants and is an vital sustainable crop providing employment for many agricultural workers in some of the poorest regions 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 grow.
The planting and maintenance of rubber tree plantations helps towards the prevention of tropical rainforest deforestation. Without the cultivation and the consumption of Latex products the plantations might easily become yet another sufferer of the clearance of land for construction. One of the great by-products of NRL cultivation is the noticeable contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere that is produced by industrialised nations and is a major source of global warming. The tropical regions in which rubber trees grow are often in some of the poorest parts of the world, so an industry from such a sustainable source is a vital income for the region.
Conclusion
The toy balloon has been a source of pleasure and excitement for many years at celebratory events such as parties, product launches and conferences throughout the world. They have been an educational resource as well as providing hours of entertainment 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.