The Floating Balloon

3/18/2019

The first time I saw the movie "UP", I was immediately interested in how many balloons would be required to provide enough buoyant force to cancel out the weight of an entire house. This lab gives students the opportunity to measure the force of one balloon and then use their measurements to estimate the number of balloons required to lift a house.

The Objective

Calculate the number of balloons that would be required to allow the house in the movie “UP” to float motionless in equilibrium

The Process

Pick out a helium balloon and attach a paperclip to the ribbon. Use the paperclip to hang a piece of cardstock to the balloon. This added mass will be enough to keep the balloon on the ground.

Using an electronic balance, find the mass that you added to your balloon to make it hover (this includes the cardstock AND the paperclip. With this value, calculate the weight (in Newtons) of this added amount. Assuming that a hovering balloon is in equilibrium, what is the buoyant force that the helium balloon provides?

The Calculation

In the movie “Up”, the main characters, float away in a house supported by many many helium balloons. Assuming that the balloons and rigging don’t and any noticeable mass to the 45,000 kg total, what is the buoyant force required from the balloons for the house hover motionless in the air?