Inflate the balloon at home to make it fly. Festive life hack: how to make a balloon fly without helium

The flying balloon is perfect for any festive occasion. Usually, commercial flying balloons are filled with a light, volatile gas such as helium. It is almost impossible to obtain such gas at home without special equipment. But helium is not the only gas that can be used for this purpose. At home, you can easily get hydrogen, which is also suitable.
But here it is worth considering that hydrogen is extremely explosive, so it is undesirable to make more than one balloon. In general, the whole experiment should be carried out outside the domain and in the open air.

It will take

For experience we need:

• - aluminium foil,
• - pipe cleaner (Titanium, Mole) - Caution! Alkali!
• - plastic bottle,
• - bucket with water,
• - rubber ball,
• - funnel,
• - water,
• - etc.

Making a flying ball with your own hands

When carrying out the experiment, be sure to use rubber gloves and special goggles to protect your eyes!
The first step is to roll the kitchen foil into small strips and cut into small pieces. And we collect it in a small plastic cup.

We got 7 grams, you can take more foil, the reaction will go faster and there will be more hydrogen.

We also take a pipe cleaner (TITANIUM or MOLE) in granules, 19 grams is enough for us. Be careful this caustic substance, wear rubber gloves. In case of contact with hands, rinse with plenty of water.

Next, we take a plastic bottle, filling it one third with water, and lower it into a bucket of cold water. For convenience, we take a funnel and pour our aluminum crumbs and pipe cleaner into the bottle, after which we quickly put the ball on the neck of the bottle so as not to release hydrogen. It is better to insulate the neck of the bottle with electrical tape.

A reaction begins, the ball will completely inflate in about 15-20 minutes, the plastic bottle heats up and so that it does not melt from overheating, it immerses it in a bucket of cold water.

As a result of the reaction of aluminum, sodium hydroxide and water, sodium tetrahydroxoaluminate and hydrogen are formed, which inflates our ball.

When the ball is pumped up, we squeeze the bottle so that part of the hydrogen from the bottle goes into the ball, we twist the tail tighter and remove the electrical tape, after which we remove the ball from the neck.

We wash the tail with water, if our balloon is not fully inflated, you can blow it a little like a regular balloon.

We ask someone to hold the ball and tie the ponytail tightly.

The balloon flies very well and will delight you and your children. To prevent the balloon from deflating in half a day, use a gel for flying balloons, for example, "hi float".

Conclusion

At the end of the experiment, I would like to add that such a ball will descend to the ground after about 6-12 hours of flight. To increase this time, you can use a special gel, which is sprinkled in specialized stores selling such balls.
Be careful: a pipe cleaner (Titanium, Mole) is used to make the ball - this is a caustic alkali, be extremely careful!
Also, do not bring the inflated balloon close to the fire. Otherwise, the hydrogen in the balloon will bang loudly.

The foil balloon, in contrast to the latex (rubber) one, does not stretch and has a valve for inflation, not a neck.

If the balloon is inflated with air.

We find the valve of the ball, it usually looks like in the picture: a round hole with a silvery "gut" color.

We also need a tube for cocktails (as an option, it can be a stick for a ball or even a body from a twisted handle).

The tube must be inserted into the valve opening, under a translucent and sometimes completely transparent film. Again, like the picture.

It so happens that this film may not be found.
In this case, we simply insert the tube under the top layer of foil towards the center of the ball.
Ideally, if the length of the tube allows you to move it 5-10 cm inward. This must be done very carefully. The fact is that the slamming valve sometimes tends to stick together a little (with prolonged storage, excessive pressure, or simply high storage temperatures).
A sudden movement can break the ball and complicate the task.

So, pushing the tube a little deeper into the valve, try to make a control exhalation into the ball. If there is no air flow, straighten the balloon or push the tube a little deeper.
If it does, then you can start to inflate the balloon.

When the ball is just about almost strong, remember again where you are taking it, and what temperature conditions there are.

Upon completion, you can confidently remove the tube, the valve behind it will instantly close, and the air will not come back.

If there is a doubt about the strength of the valve, you can hear the hissing of the outgoing air, and the ball quickly lost its elastic appearance, then it is better to blow the ball again and tie the ball with a ribbon above the valve.

If the balloon is inflated with helium.

In general, the essence is the same, except that in this case you will have to inflate not with your mouth, but with a balloon.
To inflate the foil with helium, we need a nozzle for such balloons.

In a complete set, it looks like this.

The wide part of this nozzle is screwed onto the balloon. (You already know that when buying an adapter, you should take into account the diameter of the neck of your cylinder?).

A separate adapter for foil balls is screwed into the wide part.

This is the tube that you need to act in the same way as when pumping with air.

That is, we introduce it into the valve in the direction of the center of the ball, then blow it to the required size, take out the tube and enjoy life.

! Important when inflating with helium:

To avoid ball breakouts, it is better to pre-blow the ball through the tube with air. That is, there is literally one way out to make sure that the valve has opened and air enters the ball without obstruction.

There is strong pressure in the helium bottle, even with a weak opening of the valve. Any abrupt entry into a poorly open valve, and the valve will simply burst.

Happy Holidays.

More recently among the twisters inflating balloons for modeling (shdm) using a pump was considered amateurism, so they inflated the balloons only with their mouths. But today everything has changed and more and more often twisters use pumps in their performances. Indeed, to create something complex and large, you cannot do without a pump. Still, a real twister must be able to inflate balloons with the mouth, which has several advantages.

For example, speaking in public, such a "trick" will surely delight others, and especially children. In addition, twisters have a set of techniques that require inflating the ball with the mouth only... And strong developed lungs will not hurt either.

In terms of safety, high pressure can damage organs such as the lungs, eyes, cheeks and inner ear. This rarely happens, but it is theoretically possible. It is not recommended to inflate balloons with your mouth. also because of this the latex of the balloons oxidizes faster and such balloons are not durable. It is better to use pumps to inflate, and use your mouth for a twisting show.

It is recommended that you wear glasses to avoid the bursting balloon getting into your eyes. Moreover, if the twister is performing in public, glasses can become an integral part of the costume. And the right workout will not be superfluous.

So, let's start inflating the shdm

As you know, training is a gradual increase in load. Therefore, for a start, you can inflate the balloon with a pump, and then deflate and inflate it with your mouth. Even if a stretched balloon is difficult to inflate, then you can practice on round balloons. You will have to train on 260 balls.

And now the most important thing - balloon inflating technique.

1. Cheek muscle workout. Do not inflate your cheeks, as there is a possibility of damage to them. In addition, the efficiency of work decreases, and most importantly, it is not beautiful. Therefore, by training the muscles of the cheeks, over time it will be possible to move to more difficult levels and it will be possible to confidently cope with any load;
2. The most important thing in this business is the beginning. Having inflated a small bubble, it will become easier to inflate further;
3. The shorter the length of the inflated part, the easier it is to inflate. After stepping back a few centimeters, squeeze the ball. And as soon as this little bubble inflates, you can unclench your fingers and continue to inflate the balloon to the end;
4. When the balloon is inflated, it needs to be stretched. To do this, imagine how the ball is stretched in length when inflating, and in the same way with the fingers clamping it, it is necessary to slightly pull it back during inflation;

To consolidate the result, you should repeat it again.

You should take the ball and, holding it with your right hand, squeeze with your left hand about five centimeters from your mouth. It should be inflated by pulling a little. At the same time, one should not forget about the cheeks: first, they should be trained, and then the lungs. Over time, it will become clear when you can move on to more complex workouts.

In no case should you quit training, since in this case you will have to start all over again. In addition to the 260 balloons, there are also 160 balloons, which are much more difficult to inflate. There are twisters that can simultaneously inflate 2-4 balloons at once, but inflating a hundred balloons in a short period of time is not something everyone can do.

Balloons are able to decorate any holiday and create a unique atmosphere in the room.

Everything for decorating a children's party with balloons can be found on the website sharik.ua.

Equipment types

Aerodesign, this is how the creation of compositions from balloons is called, is gaining more and more popularity. Many firms offer their services for the decoration of premises for the celebration, the manufacture of bouquets and gift figures from balloons.

To inflate balloons today they use:

• gas installations for filling balloons with helium. This gas is much lighter than air, so balloons inflated with it will tend upward. In some cases, the balloons are filled with a mixture of air and helium, this makes it possible to influence the properties of the inflated balloon. It should be remembered that only special balloons made of fine-pored material can be filled with helium;
• there is special equipment for inflating balloons with a mixture of gases. But in this case, the process of filling the ball is significantly delayed. In some cases, it is better to first fill the balloon with helium, and then pump it up with a hand pump to the required volume;
• rune or electric pumps pump air into the ball. In this case, a special nozzle can be used, which will fill the ball with confetti. This is especially useful when making large surprise balls.

Often, when creating large arches from balloons, balloons inflated with both air and helium are used simultaneously. Helium balloons lift the structure up, while balloons serve as a kind of weighting and pull the arch down. As a result of this neighborhood, you can get interesting and extraordinary compositions.

Rules for working with helium

Special gas equipment is used to inflate the balloons with helium. Helium is under high pressure in the cylinder. And although helium is not a flammable gas, gas leakage is possible if the cylinder is sealed or other equipment malfunctions. The force with which the gas escapes can overturn the cylinder, which can lead to injury to people nearby.

Often in feature films, you can see how heroes inhale helium from a balloon and start talking in a funny voice. Before deciding to repeat this on your own, you should find out that helium is dangerous to humans. If large amounts of this gas enter the lungs, it can be fatal.

Subject to basic safety rules, working with equipment for inflating balloons is not difficult.

How to inflate balloons correctly (video tutorials):

Wedding, family celebration, child's birthday, or any other holiday - they all have one thing in common - balloons. Light and multi-colored balls can turn any event into a real celebration: an office party, a banquet, a family home party or a thematic photo session, giving joy and a charge of good mood to both children and adults.

Inflation of balloons in the classical way is no longer often used - it requires a lot of effort, time and well-trained airways. The modern method involves inflating the balloons with helium, a light gas that makes the balloons rise and float under the ceiling due to its lightness. This method has several advantages over the classic one:

· -- simple - even one person is able to handle a large number of balls;

· -- quickly - in just a few minutes you can get up to fifty ready-made balls;

· -- practical - balloons inflated with helium are able to stay in the air from several hours to several weeks, depending on the additional processing of the balloon;

· -- beautiful - it is easy to compose compositions from balls, as well as place them in space.

In addition, there are several alternative ways to inflate the balloons using improvised items.

Do-it-yourself methods for inflating balloons

Method one - inflate the balloons with helium at home, or, in other words, get a similar effect with improvised means.

To do this, you will need to take care of purchasing the required number of balls and additional materials in advance:

• plastic or glass bottle with a capacity of 1.5 - 2 liters;
• vinegar solution 9% - regular table vinegar, which is sold in all grocery stores;
• household plastic funnel;
• baking soda.

The scheme of action is extremely simple: a jar or bottle is filled with vinegar by one third or half. Pour a little soda into the ball using a funnel (about three teaspoons), and put it on the neck of the bottle. The result will not be long in coming, and soon the soda will begin to interact with the vinegar, resulting in an inflated balloon.

For each ball, you will need a new set: vinegar + soda, and you can calculate the amount of ingredients experimentally, the larger the ball, the more gas you need to get for it.

However, during the chemical reaction of soda and vinegar, carbon dioxide is released, which is inferior in volatility to helium: the balloon will inflate quickly, but will not fly. You can make it stick to the surface yourself by rubbing it against a synthetic surface. An electrified ball will hold up under the ceiling for several hours.

This method is not a simple one, and is rather laborious, so it will not work for inflating a huge number of balloons. But it will be an excellent visual example for playing with a child and teaching the basics of chemistry.

Yetmore complicated homemade way - This is the production of a substance similar to helium using aluminum and an alkaline substance. For this you will need:

· a flask or bottle onto which you will inflate the balloon;

· finely cut aluminum foil (ordinary household foil is suitable for baking in the oven);

· warm water (half a prepared bottle);

· the last ingredient is alkali, in everyday life it is found under the name sodium hydroxide (or caustic soda, caustic soda, sodium hydroxide).

The scheme resembles the last one: pieces of foil are added to a container with water, and then alkali is carefully poured. After that, you need to put the ball on the neck of the bottle and shake its contents to start the reaction. After dissolving the foil, you need to quickly tie the ball, otherwise it can quickly deflate.

Knowing these few simple tricks, you can perfectly entertain little schoolchildren, or use the methods for your own purposes: inflate balloons without using balloons and save money.

Traditional methods of inflating balloons

Today, if you want to get beautiful, voluminous balloons, you can use several methods.

1. Method one: to order the production of helium balloons in a specialized company - it can be a gift shop or a company that organizes celebrations. This method is the simplest, but it has several disadvantages:

· Such firms, as a rule, do not open in large numbers, and finding a suitable one in a short time can be quite problematic;

· The problem of transporting inflated balloons will certainly affect you in extremely cold or hot seasons, as well as, if you do not have the opportunity to use a private vehicle, the balloons may burst or simply not fit into the interior of a car / bus;

· Variability - in many such companies there is a rule that prohibits inflating "own" balloons, that is, you can choose only balloons available in the store, but among them there may not be those that are suitable for you in terms of the event theme or color;

· Cost - to inflate balloons with helium in a specialized office is a rather expensive pleasure, because you will have to pay for balloons, for inflation and for the time spent by the store employee.

2. Method two: order or rent a gas cylinder filled with helium. This method is also quite simple, however, it has its own list of inconveniences.

The first is the limitation on the number of balloons inflated, because balloons have their own capacity limits: 5, 10, 20, 40 or 50 liters, each of which is capable of inflating only a certain number of balloons, depending on their size. The most common volumes of balloons for inflating balloons are for 10 and 40 liters, they contain:

· forty-liter - from 110 to 800 balls, depending on the size of the balls;

· ten-liter - 15-160 balls.

The second is the high cost, which will pay off only by inflating a large number of balloons.

You can buy helium cylinders on your own, or rent them from a store, but you will need to pay for both the use of the cylinder and the cost of refueling it.

And finally, the third: You cannot track the quality of the helium and therefore cannot guarantee the duration of its action..