Introduction to Balloons
The word ‘Balloons’ conjures up pictures in your mind of simple balloons you inflate for kid’s parties, or balloons that fly off on their own, or the special balloons for big events like the ones produced for the wedding of Charles and Diana? There are so many different types of balloons available that you can get almost anything for any event you want. Balloons are a bright, bouncy item that can be used for lots of different purposes, including children’s or adult parties, product launches for advertising or promotional events.
When you think about it, a balloon is a very strange item. It is something that expands when filled with air or some other type of gas, such as Helium or hydrogen and is very fragile so that it can easily burst. The very early balloons would have been made with non-elastic material but modern balloons have great elasticity because they are made of Latex and can be pumped up to create much larger sizes than earlier ones. Balloons come in many different sizes and colours and can brighten up any event and provide a festive atmosphere.
Balloon History
The first known balloons were very simple in that they were made out of the bowels of animals. The Aztec Indians in Central and Southern America carefully cleaned out the cat gut, turned it inside out and stitched it with special vegetable thread that stuck to itself when dried in the sun creating an almost airtight seal. The balloons were shaped into model animals and then filled with air to be burnt on the top of the Aztec pyramid as an offering to the sun god. This is the first recorded history of balloon modelling. Early balloons were made of animal guts and were turned into play things for the local community.
The first public demonstration of a balloon was at the Portuguese Court in Lisbon in seventeen hundred and nine by a Portuguese priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmao, and was most likely to be made from an animal bladder that stretched when filled with air. The modern rubber balloon was invented in eighteen twenty four by Michael Faraday the renowned English chemist and physicist who invented, amongst other many other things, the Faraday cage and he also made huge contributions to the fields electromagnetism and electrochemistry. The balloons Faraday used were filled with hydrogen for his experiments with Hydrogen, but the more common Latex balloon did not appear until eighteen forty seven. Although the Latex balloon was manufactured in London in the mid 1800′s and early rubber balloons were sold in America in parks and circuses for a penny each; the mass production of them did not happen until 100 years later in 1931.
The balloon industry became more advanced as they developed in line with technology. Now balloons are made from rubber Latex, polychloroprene or nylon and may be filled with air, Helium, hydrogen or water. Inflating the balloon with air can be done with the mouth, a manual hand pump, electric inflator, foot pump or with compressed gas. Balloons are used for various differing purposes, and decorated in numerous ways to accommodate the circumstance. Balloons are usually used for entertainment or displays.
Some balloons are purely for decorative reasons, others are ideal for individual purposes because of their low density and are relatively cheap to procure. The balloon’s properties have led to them being used in a wide range of other applications in the areas of meteorology, military defence, medical treatment, and transportation. There are many different types of balloons which can be categorised under different headings.
Different Types of Balloons
Balloons for Parties
The most popular types of balloons are the ones we are used to seeing at parties, generally a child’s party. These are usually bought in small packets and blown up by mouth or with a pump to create a festive scene for children’s parties and other kinds of celebratory events. These days you often see a balloon cluster at the entrance to a house or hall to indicate where the party is being held, it has almost become a universal indicator of a party in progress! The balloons come in varying sizes and colours and can have printing on them which expands as the balloon is blown up. Party balloons are usually made of natural Latex tapped from rubber trees. The rubber’s elasticity makes the volume variable. Balloons filled with air usually hold their size and shape much longer than those filled with Helium.This is because Helium particles are so small they can escape between the Latex molecules, apparently!
There is a great range of colours for balloons and many different sizes due to the flexibility of the material from which they are made. A company that supplies Helium balloons will usually be able to get hold of balloon gas ensuring you can inflate the balloons on the day.
Balloons made of Foil
The foil balloon or Mylar balloons first appeared during the late 1970s. They are generally more high priced than Latex balloons and are made of thin non-stretch metalized plastic film or Mylar. The first time I remember them being used a major event was when they made an appearance at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer and they caused quite a stir. Foil balloons have attractive high gloss reflective texture and can be finished with colour pictures, logos and styles to customise them. The most crucial aspect of metalized nylon for balloons is its propensity to keep the Helium gas from escaping for several weeks because it is less porus. Foil balloons also have the benefit of being light weight, longer-lasting with increased buoyancy. They are perfect for unusual celebrations, in-store decorations, parties and for gifts. At my Mum’s 90′th birthday party last year I brought along a foil balloon with 90 printed on it to add to the occasion .
Balloons in Animal Shapes
Balloons shaped like animals are ade from metalized nylon which can easily be cut into pieces so that when glued together they make the three dimensional shapes of animals. Screen printing the appropriate design on the model, makes the chosen animal come realistically alive. Once inflated, these spectacular pieces make a very bright decorative effect for that special event. Balloons in animal shapes may be used as gifts or as a talking point at your special event.
Rocket Balloons
Blowing up a balloon and releasing it go before tying it is as game most kids play at some time or another (and adults too)! The rude noise it makes generally has all but the really stone faced falling about laughing as it zooms all over the building in a random manner. This demonstration is teaching the children basically how a rocket works and they are called balloon rockets. As a youngster I can remember being fascinated as I learned how they worked.
When the mouth of the balloon is released, the balloon contracts so that the greater pressure of air inside is forced out causing the balloon to be propelled forward. This is basically how a rocket works. The balloon can also be filled with different gases other than air, with similar results. Balloon rockets are a widely used a learning aid to show the principles in physics of the functioning of a rocket. The balloon rocket is also often used to demonstrate Newton’s third law in physics.
Balloons and Water
The water balloons are obviously filled with water and are intended for youngsters to fling at each other as a game or practical joke with the aim of getting each other drenched. They are often smaller than normal sized balloons and made from thiner rubber so that they can be easily broken.
Helium Filled Balloons
The reason Helium balloons float up is because they are filled with Helium gas which is less dense than air. So for an event where balloons are set off into the air, they will all be Helium filled balloons. If the Helium balloons are rubber balloons they normally only retain their buoyancy for a few days. This is because the Latex has tiny holes that are larger than the enclosed Helium atoms so the Helium gradually leaks out. To increase the buoyancy period of a Helium balloon the inside of the balloons can be coated with a special polymer solution which reduces the leakage of the Helium for a week or more. Quite a few companies supply wholesale balloons the majority of suppliers can be found on the internet.
Sculpting with Balloons
Balloon Sculptures are made from hundreds of balloons to create a solid structure such as a balloon arch, wall or statute. Other shapes are more difficult, but on occasion more ambitious sculptures have been attempted so they are possible. These sculptures are usually made and designed by professional balloon modellers as it is a very skilled job. Balloon sculptures are really quite restricted because of the shape of the balloons but with intelligent colour choice simple arches or walls can make an impressive feature at your party. The balloons need to be precision filled with exactly the same amount of gas and to do this professional balloon sculptors use electronic equipment to deliver the exact amount of Helium into the balloon. For non-floating balloons air inflators are used. Professional quality balloons differ from most retail packet balloons as they are bigger in size, stronger and made from 100% biodegradable Latex. Sometimes Helium balloons are used as table decorations for special events which may have three or 5 balloons with an arrangement of flowers. The decoration will usually include curled ribbon tied to a weight to keep the balloons on the table.
Modelling and Art with Balloons
Balloon modelling is a fantastic entertainment for children and adults alike and is not to be confused with balloon sculptures discussed above. The Latex used for balloon modelling is made of extra-stretchy rubber so that it can be twisted and shaped and tied without bursting when making the balloon model. A Balloon modelling artist twists and ties the inflated modelling balloons into shapes of animals, people or hats. When I have watched these artists at work I am always anxious that the balloons will burst when they are twisting and tying their handy work. These tiny tubular balloons are extremely tricky to inflate and often need a pump to get them started, until you have developed the lungs for it.
Dropping Lots of Balloons from a Net
I am sure you will have been to a party or dance where at the end of the event hundreds of balloons are dropped from the ceiling to create excitement and fun amongst the audience. This is known as a balloon drop and is often performed at parties such as New Year’s Eve celebrations or at political rallies and conventions. It is a relatively low budget way of making a festive atmosphere at the party climax, so everyone goes home feeling they have had a really good time.
It is easy enough to create your own balloon drop for your special event as long as you have a room with high enough ceilings. To begin with you will need to set up a large plastic bag or net overhead, which is suspended at the required height. Get your friends to lend a hand with inflating balloons as it can take quite a while to do the number needed. Then load the inflated balloons into the net and make sure the opening works so that the balloons will drop onto the target area below when they are released. You will also need to create a mechanism for releasing the balloons. Balloon drops may also be performed at many other celebrations, such as graduations and weddings.
It would not occur to many promotional departments to use advertising balloons to convey their message to potential customers, but it is an excellent marketing tool.
Balloon Releases
Because of concerns about the effect on the environment of a large number of balloons being released, the NABAS – The Balloon Association have produced a code of practise which can be found on their website at www.nabas.co.uk
If you are preparing a balloon release involving 5,000 balloons, it is a necessity that you apply in writing for permission to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at least 28 days before the event. The CAA also like to be informed of balloon releases involving less than 5,000. An application form can be acquired by calling either the NABAS office on 01989 762 204 or the Airspace Utilisation Section of the CAA on 020 7453 6599
Balloon Safety and The Environment
Latex is an organic product obtained from rubber trees that are cultivated in certain areas of the tropics, so balloons are actually organic being manufactured from natural rubber Latex (NRL). These trees are not cleared to produce the NRL. The NRL is harvested by tapping mature trees and is an crucial sustainable crop providing work for many agricultural workers in some of the poorest regions of the world.
The planting and maintenance of rubber tree plantations contributes towards the prevention of tropical rainforest deforestation. Without the cultivation and the consumption of Latex products the plantations might easily become yet another sufferer of the clearance of land for arable use. One of the great by-products of NRL cultivation is the appreciable contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere that is produced by industrialised nations and is a major source of global warming. The tropical regions in which rubber trees grow are often in some of the poorest parts of the world, so an industry from such a sustainable source is a vital income for the region.
Printed Latex balloons are an absolutely fantastic, low-cost and environmentally friendly way of advertising your promotion or event.
Conclusion
The toy balloon has been a source of pleasure and excitement for many years at celebratory events such as parties, product launches and conferences throughout the world. They have been an educational resource as well as providing hours of fun and interest for children and adults alike. Non toy balloons are used for experiments in science, as an aid for heart repair in medicine and even as a form of travel as in the hydrogen air ship idea. Balloons are invaluable in helping us to learn about our world and some of the properties of physics.