Introduction to Balloons
The word ‘Balloons’ conjures up images in your mind of simple balloons you blow up for children’s parties, or balloons that fly off on their own, or the special balloons for key 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 many different purposes, including children’s or adult parties, product launches for advertising or promotional events.
When you think about it, a balloon is quite an odd item. It is something that stretches when filled with air or some other type of gas, such as Helium or hydrogen and is very fragile so that it can easily pop. The very early balloons would have been made with non-flexible material but modern dayballoons 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.
Balloons Throughout History
The earliest 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 sewed 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 was probably the first example of balloon modelling.
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 probably likely to be made from an animal bladder that stretched when filled with air. The modern rubber balloon was invented in 1824 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 everyday Latex balloon did not appear until eighteen forty seven. Although the Latex balloon was manufactured in London in the mid eighteen hundreds and early rubber balloons were sold in America in parks and circuses for a penny each; the mass production of them did not occur until a hundred years later in nineteen thirty one.
The world of balloons 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 fit the circumstance. Balloons are usually used for entertainment or displays.
Some balloons are purely for decoration, others are ideal for specialist uses because of their low density and relatively low cost. 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 Balloon Types
Balloons for Parties
The most common types of balloons are the ones we are used to seeing at parties, particularly a child’s party. These are often bought in small packets and blown up by Mum’s and Dad’s 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 many different sizes and colours and can have printing on sometimes which expands as the balloon is inflated. Party balloons are generally made of natural Latex tapped from rubber trees. The rubber’s elasticity makes the size variable. Balloons filled with air usually hold their size and shape much longer than those filled with Helium.
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. Animal shaped balloons will make a brilliant feature of children’s parties to help make it an exciting event.
Foil Balloons
The foil balloon or Mylar balloons first appeared during the late 1970s. They are much 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 were used at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer and they caused quite a stir. These balloons have beautiful high gloss reflective finish and can be finished with colour pictures, branding and styles to customise them. The most crucial attribute of metalized nylon for balloons is its capability 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 special celebrations, in-store decorations, parties and for gifts. At our gran’s ninetieth birthday celebration last year we brought along a foil balloon with 90 printed on it to add to the festive occasion.
Animal-Shaped Balloons
Animal shaped balloons are ade from metalized nylon which can easily be cut into pieces so that when stuck 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 attractive items make a very bright decorative show for that special event. Balloons shaped like animals may be used as gifts or as a talking point at your special event.
Rocket Balloons
Blowing up a balloon and letting it go without tying it is as game most kids play at some time or another (and adults too)! The rude noise it makes usually has most people falling about laughing as it shoots around the building in a random manner. This activity is an experiment in how a rocket works and they are called balloon rockets. As a youngster I can remember being enthralled as I learned how they worked.
When the mouth of the balloon is released, the elasticity of the balloon contracts so that the greater pressure of air inside is forced out causing the balloon to be propelled forward. This is in effect how a rocket works. The balloon can also be filled with different gases other than air, resulting inthe same effect. Balloon rockets are a widely used a learning aid to reveal the principles in science of the functioning of a rocket. The balloon rocket is also frequently used to demonstrate Newton’s third law in physics. Children can have hours of fun playing with balloons as a balloon rocket. The randomness of where they will go adds much laughter to the fun.
Balloons Filled With Water
The water balloons are obviously filled with water and are intended for kids to lob at each other as a game or practical joke with the aim of getting each other soaked. They are usually not as big as regular balloons and made from thiner rubber so that they can be easily broken. Water balloons are often used in competitions or games.
Helium Balloons
The reason Helium balloons float upwards is because they are filled with Helium gas which is lighter 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 generally only retain their buoyancy for a few days. This is because the Latex has pores that are bigger than the enclosed Helium atoms so the Helium gradually seeps out. To increase the float time 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. As the name suggests Helium balloons means that the balloons are filled with Helium instead of air so that they rise up and float away.
Balloon Sculpting
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 built 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 limited because of the round shape of the balloons but with clever colour choice simple arches or walls can make an impressive design at your special event. The balloons need to be precision filled and to do this professional balloon party decorators use electronic equipment to deliver the exact amount of Helium into the balloon. For non-floating balloons air inflators are used. Industrial grade balloons differ from most retail packet balloons as they are bigger in size, stronger and made from one hundred percent biodegradable Latex. Sometimes Helium balloons are used as table decorations for weddings which may have three or 5 balloons with an arrangement of flowers. The decoration will usually include curled ribbon tied to a weight to stop the balloons from floating away.
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 resembling 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 creations. These tiny tubular balloons are extremely tricky to inflate and often need a pump to get them started.
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 evening hundreds of balloons fall from the roof to create excitement and fun amongst the audience. This is known as a balloon drop and is often performed at events such as New Year’s Eve celebrations or at political rallies and conventions. It is a relatively low cost way of making a festive atmosphere at the party climax, so everyone goes away feeling they have had a really great evening.
It is easy enough to create your own balloon drop for that special event as long as you have a room with high enough ceilings. Firstly you will need to set up a large plastic bag or net overhead, which is suspended at the required height. Get your assistants to help with blowing up balloons as it can take quite a while to do the number needed. Then insert the inflated balloons into the container and make sure the opening works so that the balloons will fall onto the target area below when they are let go. 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.
For balloons arches balloon decorators will use balloons made from stronger Latex than normal balloons.
Mass Balloon Releases
Due to concerns about the impact on the environment of a large number of balloons being released, the NABAS – The Balloon Association have produced a code of conduct which can be found on their website at www.nabas.co.uk
If you are arranging a balloon release involving 5,000 balloons, it is a requirement 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 races involving less than 5,000. An application form can be obtained by calling either the NABAS office on 01989 762 204 or the Airspace Utilisation Section of the CAA on 020 7453 6599
Environmental Concerns and Balloon Safety
Latex is an organic product from rubber trees that are grown in certain areas of the tropics, so balloons are completely environmentally friendly being manufactured from natural rubber Latex (NRL). These trees are not cut down to extract the NRL. The NRL is released by tapping older trees and is an indespensible sustainable crop providing jobs for many agricultural labourers in some of the poorest regions of the world.
The planting and maintenance of rubber tree plantations helps towards the prevention of tropical rainforest deforestation. Without the cultivation and the consumption of Latex products the plantations may very well become just another sufferer of the clearance of land for construction. One of the great benefits of NRL cultivation is the considerable contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere that is produced by industrialised nations and is a major source of global warming.
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 tool 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.
When you think about it balloons are a major part of modern day life, did you realise?
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