Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

[Looner Araki]

I had some 12'' balloons, and today I managed to pop them. I untied one and pumped more air into it, until it was extremely tight and popped with amazing BANG!. It sounded quite louder than when I popped a similarly over-inflated one with a pen. I was shocked with the loudness even I wore earplugs.

So, is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon? what are the factors affecting the loudness?

(I'm not a native English speaker, so sorry if there are any grammar mistakes...)

[BalloonBomber]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

When you pop with a pen you just create a "tear" in a balloon that continues to rip very fast and escaping air makes the sound. The more air is there, the louder the pop. If you blow to pop, there is just a lot of air and on top of that, balloon pops because it can not hold that strong tension and rips apart, escaping air makes the sound.. so..Yeah, Im pretty sure blow to pop is loudest way.

[Seidenki]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

I remember a story told by a recording artist who wanted an "explosion" sound effect for a novelty song quite some years ago. Eventually they found that blowing a balloon to bursting made the sound they wanted, implying that merely popping an inflated balloon produced an inferior sound.

[WannabePopper]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

Yep, I was always told the same thing too. And my experiences back it up -

Pressure pops (blow to pop, sitting, stomping (no heals) etc.) tend to be louder than puncture pops (pin, cigarette, nails etc.).

[Harley]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

Pin popping a balloon blown to the ABSOLUTE limit MIGHT produce a similar sound, but bursting it by overpressurizing should guarantee the loudest noise that particular balloon is capable of. My phobia has caused me to read a bit on the subject, although not enough to go into particulars about the physics behind it.
For me, pin popping half-full balloons proved therapeutic, as that was significally less scary and noisy than doing it with full ones...

[srob2]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

A b2p often rips the neck where it attaches, sometimes with minimal shredding of the rest of the balloon. Blow a balloon almost to popping and stab away from the neck or tie it as big as you can and squeeze the neck so the rest explodes. But b2p will be louder if you get enough tension the whole balloon shreds.

[Bjorn]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

I think a blow to pop will be the loudest way.

More pressure will cause a louder bang. The pressure inside the balloon is at it's absolute maximum right before you last breath. When you pop the balloon another way it's mostly not inflated that hard.

I'm a non-popper and really phobic so I don't want to try, but it's logical I think.

The harder the balloon is inflated, the harder it pops.

[wildheart]

Re: Is b2p the loudest way to pop a balloon?

I think the loudest way possible to pop it would be to blow it to the absolute max, then sit on it really hard. There’s even more pressure then. I don’t know how much resonance has to do with the loudness though. The physics of a balloon popping is much more complex than you’d think. It’s much more than the air just exploding out.