Why do helium balloons not ‘loop’?

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Recently bought some helium balloons to celebrate a birthday.

I have noticed that the ‘0’ does not form a complete loop. But it’s filled from the bottom, not the “end” of where the loop has been closed.

On further research it appears the numbers where there are loops are always closed off, when surely it would be less work to just punch a complete circle together and not have two closed ends (source of leaks?). A google showed me lots of different brand balloons seem to be made this way but I could not find an answer of why they are made like this. Complex shapes such as a ‘4’ are made, so why not simplify the ‘0’ and make it a complete circle?

I assume there is a manufacturing or scientific reason on why this is the case. But why?

[See example](https://www.thepartycompany.co.uk/image/cache/data/gold-numbers/gold-numbers-800×800.jpg)

In: Physics

2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You cannot control the way any gas expands, even oxigen, (normal ballons popping when you put to much really fast) becouse of that, (and helium being expensive) its easier to have a tubular shape of ballon so the gas will flow to the last point of it, and expand from there.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It could be that it has to do with the seal and the mechanical tooling. If this is made with something like an RF Welder, it’s possible the machine may not be able to press both the inner and outer seals separately in one step. If that were true, it would be easier to have a design that didn’t require another expensive tool or more production time.

And despite several companies offering their brand, it’s likely that only a handful manufacturers exist to supply them.