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To answer the question posed in the article: no. People are going to buy the helium balloon that costs 300x less than the highly engineered device made out of u

To answer the question posed in the article: no. People are going to buy the helium balloon that costs 300x less than the highly engineered device made out of ultralight materials that could implode violently if improperly handled. Party balloons don’t need replacing - they need banning. They use irreplaceable resources frivolously, and cause harm to wildlife and livestock, who almost inevitably end up eating the things.

phyzome 4y ago
Even better, when the helium runs out, they're going to buy hydrogen balloons. Much safer. :-)
- madaxe_again 4y ago
  Hydrogen gets a bad rap. For the quantity that you’d have in a party balloon - even a dozen of them together - it’s safe, particularly as you aren’t going to have a stoichiometric mixture inside a balloon. If you managed to light one, you’d get a small implosion - much less than from a vacuum vessel. They’d also deflate more quickly, and wouldn’t travel anywhere near as far when inevitably released. You could even do instant balloons, which come pre-sealed and just require snapping a vessel within to generate hydrogen.
  - BenjiWiebe 4y ago
    Uh... They aren't quite as safe as you're implying. Hydrogen is really easy to light, and if one balloon goes the others in the bunch will 100% ignite too. You still get a pretty good amount of fire per balloon, just not an explosion.
- __MatrixMan__ 4y ago
  As a former pyromaniac I can assure you that a party balloon filled with hydrogen (or a "Hindenburg Bomb" as we called them) is a pretty underwhelming thing. It goes up in a whoosh, not a bang , not a billowing ball of flame, and the screw-around factor just isn't there. Like, what to you do with it besides let it go whoosh? The only thing that's dangerous about them is how boring they are. You'll be graduating to more interesting forms of pyromancy (like trying to make a flame thrower out of a punching balloon) in no time.
- ordu 4y ago
  Hydrogen balloon is being put on fire (and a balloon with 2:1 hydrogen-oxygen mixture): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RKdWYqgu3Y https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RKdWYqgu3Y
beebeepka 4y ago
Party balloons is on par with leaf blowers and plastic, single-use utensils and containers. I cannot believe these things are encouraged and cheap to buy. What a waste for almost zero actual value
- Turing_Machine 4y ago
  Obviously the people who buy these things find value in them. Otherwise they wouldn't buy them.
  - beebeepka 4y ago
    Obviously I am aware of that and very much against it
    - Turing_Machine 4y ago
      Obviously no one put you in charge of policing the behavior of other people.
voldacar 4y ago
If only we had a way to assign finite resources demanded by multiple agents
- quirkot 4y ago
  This whole problem would be resolved if we could get it on the blockchain
mjhay 4y ago
There's an area NE of Seattle in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness that I've done a lot of hiking in. That puts it downwind. Every time I've been there, without fail, I've found multiple balloons. Sad to think of all that plastic pollution in an area with pristine rivers, lakes, and glaciers - and all for just the inane reason that people like floaty round things.

phyzome 4y ago

Even better, when the helium runs out, they're going to buy hydrogen balloons. Much safer. :-)

madaxe_again 4y ago
Hydrogen gets a bad rap. For the quantity that you’d have in a party balloon - even a dozen of them together - it’s safe, particularly as you aren’t going to have a stoichiometric mixture inside a balloon. If you managed to light one, you’d get a small implosion - much less than from a vacuum vessel. They’d also deflate more quickly, and wouldn’t travel anywhere near as far when inevitably released. You could even do instant balloons, which come pre-sealed and just require snapping a vessel within to generate hydrogen.
- BenjiWiebe 4y ago
  Uh... They aren't quite as safe as you're implying. Hydrogen is really easy to light, and if one balloon goes the others in the bunch will 100% ignite too. You still get a pretty good amount of fire per balloon, just not an explosion.
__MatrixMan__ 4y ago
As a former pyromaniac I can assure you that a party balloon filled with hydrogen (or a "Hindenburg Bomb" as we called them) is a pretty underwhelming thing. It goes up in a whoosh, not a bang , not a billowing ball of flame, and the screw-around factor just isn't there. Like, what to you do with it besides let it go whoosh? The only thing that's dangerous about them is how boring they are. You'll be graduating to more interesting forms of pyromancy (like trying to make a flame thrower out of a punching balloon) in no time.
ordu 4y ago
Hydrogen balloon is being put on fire (and a balloon with 2:1 hydrogen-oxygen mixture): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RKdWYqgu3Y https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RKdWYqgu3Y

beebeepka 4y ago

Party balloons is on par with leaf blowers and plastic, single-use utensils and containers. I cannot believe these things are encouraged and cheap to buy. What a waste for almost zero actual value

Turing_Machine 4y ago
Obviously the people who buy these things find value in them. Otherwise they wouldn't buy them.
- beebeepka 4y ago
  Obviously I am aware of that and very much against it
  - Turing_Machine 4y ago
    Obviously no one put you in charge of policing the behavior of other people.

voldacar 4y ago

If only we had a way to assign finite resources demanded by multiple agents

quirkot 4y ago
This whole problem would be resolved if we could get it on the blockchain

mjhay 4y ago

There's an area NE of Seattle in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness that I've done a lot of hiking in. That puts it downwind. Every time I've been there, without fail, I've found multiple balloons. Sad to think of all that plastic pollution in an area with pristine rivers, lakes, and glaciers - and all for just the inane reason that people like floaty round things.