3 ms·

Seriously. I ran a little experiment back one high school summer when I had a helium tank laying around and was bored/curious to know how far your typical lost

by kirse 18y ago

Seriously. I ran a little experiment back one high school summer when I had a helium tank laying around and was bored/curious to know how far your typical lost-to-the-sky "Walmart" helium balloon would travel. I launched about 50 balloons of varying inflation levels and groups (i.e. 1,2, and 3 balloons) and attached ribbons to them and tied laminated index cards with a numeric-ID and my email address. I ended up getting a few responses and I believe one of the single balloons traveled over 76 miles before setting down in someone's backyard. The average was something like 50 miles, and that was on a warm night with <5mph wind.

Gibbon 18y ago
I found a similar balloon in a tree once. It had been launched at a birthday party for an 85 year old woman and travelled about 250 kms. We launched thousands of baloons with index cards, once a year, in primary school but I never received a reply from any of mine. It's definitely fun though!
dkokelley 18y ago
So then how could a balloon that traveled 100,000ft vertically land within 10km? Maybe the larger mass keeps the wind from pushing it so far.
- ars 18y ago
  Avoid the jet stream and trade winds. Specifically launch in the "Horse latitudes", and wait for a calm day. The very southern tip of spain is located in the horse latitudes.
- marvin 18y ago
  The helium balloons probably didn't fall back down to earth as soon as the balloon in the story. But I still think that only 10 km seems pretty remarkable.
  - dkokelley 18y ago
    Good point, the rate of descent might have made a difference. This sounds like a good experiment. Let's release 10 heavy balloons (just like the ones they used) in pairs of 2 at 5 different locations around the world and track where each of them land. I'm not sure what scientific purpose this would serve but it would at least satisfy my curiosity.

by kirse 18y ago

Gibbon 18y ago

I found a similar balloon in a tree once. It had been launched at a birthday party for an 85 year old woman and travelled about 250 kms. We launched thousands of baloons with index cards, once a year, in primary school but I never received a reply from any of mine. It's definitely fun though!

dkokelley 18y ago

So then how could a balloon that traveled 100,000ft vertically land within 10km? Maybe the larger mass keeps the wind from pushing it so far.

ars 18y ago
Avoid the jet stream and trade winds. Specifically launch in the "Horse latitudes", and wait for a calm day. The very southern tip of spain is located in the horse latitudes.
marvin 18y ago
The helium balloons probably didn't fall back down to earth as soon as the balloon in the story. But I still think that only 10 km seems pretty remarkable.
- dkokelley 18y ago
  Good point, the rate of descent might have made a difference. This sounds like a good experiment. Let's release 10 heavy balloons (just like the ones they used) in pairs of 2 at 5 different locations around the world and track where each of them land. I'm not sure what scientific purpose this would serve but it would at least satisfy my curiosity.