Popping Balloons With Fire
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Popping Balloons With Fire
Maglev Idealists
Download film (right-click)Demonstration , Explanation , Physics , Secondary
Heating a balloon without bursting it, and the physics of what’s going on.
Director's Notes:
Team Maglev Idealists write:
The Balloon is heated by a small flame. The rubber of the balloon is heated and melts, popping the ballon. Add Water to the Ballon, the rubber is heated but rather than melting the water absorbs the heat until a point where the water can not absorb anymore heat and the rubber melts. The Rubber tends to char after being heated for a while, hence the black chalky surface on the bottom of the balloon.
SciCast Notes:
I’ve seen a ridiculous number of explanations of this trick that talk about the air inside the balloon being heated and expanding until the balloon bursts, so I’m delighted that this films gives a much better explanation.
My only real problem with the film is that because of the positioning of the bunsen burner, and the camera being so far away, it’s hard to see what’s going on. I think the bunsen burner is there just to light the splint, and it’s always the splint being used to heat the balloon, but it’s not entirely clear from the angle of some of the shots. Getting the camera closer, or moving the bunsen out of shot, might have been clearer. It would also have looked safer.
So: good choice of demonstration, solid explanation, decently clear all round… I’d just have loved the team to watch it back, think through what they might improve, and do a second version of the film. I’m grumpily asking for too much again, aren’t I?
Good effort, folks. I’m glad we’ve got a version of this demo in SciCast, it’s a good one.
— Jonathan.