I just don’t understand what’s happening to them. Everything I’ve read says the lower external pressure causes the helium inside the balloon to expand. Does this just mean the pressure inside the balloon is rising as if I blew up a balloon to far till it bursts? Why does the balloon expand?
In: Physics
When a balloon expands, the pressure inside it decreases. A balloon will continue to expand until the pressure inside the balloon is as low as the pressure outside (disregarding the elasticity of the balloon here). If the pressure outside goes even lower (when the balloon rises) the balloon will expand even more.
At some point, the balloon material will be stretched to its limit and the balloon pops.
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