When I watch a balloon pop in slow motion, the material appears to tear and contract instead of exploding. It seems like if it were to make any sound then that sound should be a tearing sound.
In: 311
Yes the balloon itself tears back and contracts small, but the air that was pressurized inside suddenly has nothing keeping it in place so it rapidly expands
The bang sound is a pressure wave with all the internal air under pressure suddenly being released. It’s not the balloon material making the sound.
When a balloon doesn’t have that kind of pressure, after a few days for example, you can put a hole in it without a bang sound.
Keep in mind nearly all sounds you hear with your ears are due to differences in air pressure.
Sound IS pressure waves. A balloon is at a higher pressure than the air outside. When that pressure is allowed to rapidly expand, that’s sound.
Sound is basically air waves moving and hitting your eardrum just right.
By inflating a balloon, you’re filling it with airwaves, which get released at once in a loud noise.
Energy stored compressing the air and stretching the rubber suddenly is now no longer in balance. The rubber contracts, turning its energy to heat. The air releases its energy as quickly as the rubber contracts. Because energy is stored accross the air’s whole volume, all the air expands at the same rate, but all the energy ends up in the very peripheral outside layer. This air compresses, forming a wave that sounds like a “bang” as it passes your ear.
It’s also the rate of release that matters. Pinch a balloon and cut the small bit with scissors – no bang.
I know this because we filled a friend’s bedroom with 4ft balloons and they got home from their honeymoon at 2am. If they popped all those balloons the neighbors would have called the cops for a shooting but they were smart enough to just snip them with scissors.
All sound is is just a pressure wave.
The balloons internal pressure needs to be able to withstand the external air pressure, plus the elastic compression of the balloon. That means there’s slightly higher pressure inside than outside the balloon. When the balloon pops, all of that pressure is released at once, resulting in a quick loud sound, or a bang.
It’s a release of pressure. The gas in the balloon is under pressure and would fill a larger volume at one atmosphere of pressure. It’s being contained by the balloon. When the skin breaks all the pressure is released at once.
ELI15: Technically sound is an “illusion” that only exist in your head. Your brains understanding of the signals generated by your ear.
ELI5: In that ear, the movement of air moves your eardrum that vibration is trasferred by tiny bones to your inner ear where the movement is converted to electric signals, that travels in your brain.
A pressurized balloon is like a battery of energy it stores the work you put in to make it blow up. That energy can do work, like if you let it out slowly it flies making funny sound (little energy little movement of the air) or you can pop it to create an instant release as an explosion. All energy at once creates a bigger movement in the air that translate to a louder sound registered by your ear.
Fun fact for energy and storage. A candy bar has more energy in it than a stick of dynamite. The difference is that the energy of a candy bar is released slowly while the dinamites release is instant.
Strange thing energy is… especially the change of energy
Mind blown! So, balloons are basically tiny explosive devices powered by air pressure?
Latest Answers