Preston+C14

Preston C 2013-2014
 * THE STUDY OF HELIUM BALLOONS **


 * ABSTRACT **

The purpose of this study was to find if heating a balloon would change its flight performance. Helium is a gas that is very unique, being the only element found in space before on earth. After putting the balloon in the incubator for an amount of time, the balloon was placed on the ground and let go with the start of a stopwatch and timed until the balloon hit the ceiling. The longer the balloon was left in the incubator, the shorter time it took to hit the ceiling. This happens because the helium inside of the balloon is heated and makes the helium rise faster.

**EXPERIMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS AND FUTURE EXPERIMENTS**

One thing that could have been improved during the experiments is that in the balloon age experiment, the balloons could have been timed more exactly between each testing. Another possible improvement that could have helped would be that in the cooling and heating experiments, the flying part of the experiment could have been done faster so that the balloon didn't try to return to room temperature. One future experiment could be putting a balloon under an infrared light to see if the balloon flies faster because of the heated gas. Another helpful experiment would be to test the flight of a balloon by putting it in front of a fan in a hallway to see how far it flew down the hall with different weights applied.

To see the full ISP Paper, click on the PDF below. 