eli5: My 5-year-old wants to know why some balloons are so loud when they pop.

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My answer was “because of the air…”

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some balloons are louder than others because either they’re at higher pressure or they’re louder. As others said, the energy stored in the compressed gas turns into sound waves at the pop.

The loudest balloon pop I’ve heard was a balloon filled with acetylene. The pop was done with a torch and was proceeded by an explosion that made my ears ring for a day.

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