Static electricity

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  • Fred
    Happy looner
    • Jul 2018
    • 74

    Static electricity

    Does anybody else have the issue of static electricity zapping the balloons?
    If so how can you stop it
  • Meililoon
    aka lyckr
    • Sep 2014
    • 700

    #2
    Re: Static electricity

    I've never had static electricity cause a balloon to pop, if that's what you mean.
    I usually wear pants when sitting on balloons to reduce the amount of static though. Hairy legs and balloons makes the balloons very clingy I also tried to cuddle with a clear balloon in the dark once. It was pretty cool to see the sparks all over the balloon.

    Comment

    • BalloonBoyUK
      Banned
      • Dec 2018
      • 500

      #3
      Re: Static electricity

      Yes, static can cause a balloon to pop, if the static "pull" is strong enough. (In the same way that some static shocks are stronger than others, when static touches your skin!)

      You can read more here...



      Static is caused by (amongst other things) heat, and a build-up of "electrical charge" in the atmosphere. As such, if the static charge isn't safely discharged in some manner, then it can build up, and eventually, when it does it'll use whatever is around it to discharge itself. If that means via your body and a balloon, then that's what it'll do.

      You can buy anti-static bands, that you can wear, that may help. But generally speaking, you just need to try and avoid using balloons in a very warm atmosphere, and wearing cotton or polyester clothing, or using your balloons near cotton/polyester blend, or cotton, or polyester sheets, which will help static build-up.

      You should also "discharge" any static, by touching any conductive material not isolated from the ground such as the screw on a light switch's panel or a metal streetlight pole. You can also remove your shoes and socks and stand on the ground if you are outside.

      Hope this helps.

      Comment

      • LoonerPlanet
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2018
        • 144

        #4
        Re: Static electricity

        Static electricity is a bigger problem in winter. I once ran into this problem with a big pile of balloons on a rug. As I snaked my way through them, two popped suddenly.

        There is an easy solution. Humidify the room. (Also cover the rug with a sheet.)

        Comment

        • marja

          #5
          Re: Static electricity

          I have heard more often that static electricity can pop balloons. But I have never experienced it.
          And I have had often sparks in the winter when playing with balloons.

          So may happen, but don't worry too much about it.

          Comment

          • Steve_inflator
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2013
            • 110

            #6
            Re: Static electricity

            A humidifier in your room might be the way to go. They're usually available at pharmacies. They take the dryness out of the air in the room without making it too damp. The drier the air, the more prone the balloons would be to static sparks.

            Comment

            • Fred
              Happy looner
              • Jul 2018
              • 74

              #7
              Re: Static electricity

              This makes much more sense it's probably because I play with my balloons on my bed and that Australia is in the middle of a heat wave doesn't help either.

              Do you reckon that QUalatex balloons cauldron take a few zaps before they pop or should I be careful???

              Comment

              • BYGavia
                Senior Member
                • Dec 2017
                • 246

                #8
                Re: Static electricity

                Originally posted by Fred
                Do you reckon that QUalatex balloons cauldron take a few zaps before they pop or should I be careful???
                Qualatex balloons are among the most consistently reliable balloons I’ve had the pleasure of owning, so I would expect them to be resistant to pops. I should note that I have never had any pops by static electricity from any brand.

                Comment

                • Nopops4me
                  Senior Member
                  • Jun 2015
                  • 519

                  #9
                  Re: Static electricity

                  I'm no expert on this subject but the static spark is a miniature flame and as you know a lit match, candle flame etc. will burst a balloon when they come into contact with each other. We also know that the more you inflate a balloon the thinner the latex becomes therefore the spark has less distance to go through to completely puncture the latex, hence a pop. Cheap balloons are made of thinner latex than the major brands therefore I suggest you don't go for the cheaper ones. I'm not really into popping but any action I have with my hairy legs, arms, chest & other places will have the latex crackling away merrily. I usually use Belbal or similar & have not had any pops during playtime. Maybe the previous suggestions are truer than my experiences but eventually every balloon will be either popped or left to deflate over time & then discarded. Trial & error is the only way to really find out for yourself. Good luck

                  Comment

                  • LoonerPlanet
                    Senior Member
                    • Nov 2018
                    • 144

                    #10
                    Re: Static electricity

                    My previous story of static popping involved a floor covered with Qtex and BSA (which is a Qtex brand) balloons. Nevertheless, I think BlueYoshi is right. A few Qtex should take a static hit. In fact, a classic science demonstration is to rub 2 balloons with a cloth to build up static and watch them repeal each other because of like charges.

                    In my case, there were so many balloons on a rug in a dry environment that the static charge really built up. In addition, I do inflate my balloons pretty tight, which weakens the balloon. Moral of the story: a few OK but many tight balloons in a staticy environment is dangerous.

                    PS. Balloon rooms are still lots of fun.

                    Comment

                    • Meililoon
                      aka lyckr
                      • Sep 2014
                      • 700

                      #11
                      Re: Static electricity

                      Originally posted by onemoreblow
                      One side effect of the static is the stuff that clings to the balloons. If you have a wood floor or even carpet, and it's not clean, the balloon will pick up gritty stuff and pop easily just from that. Hard surfaces leave nowhere for dirt to go. It's like having a floor made of needles!
                      When I play with balloons on my bed, they're often full of dust afterwards, from my bedsheets and my clothes. It's amazing how much the static manages to collect! I usually use my hands to pile it up on the surface of the balloon and then dispose of it. Never had any of the stuff the static collected, or the static itself, cause a balloon to pop.

                      Comment

                      • SusieDK
                        Senior Member
                        • Dec 2017
                        • 201

                        #12
                        Re: Static electricity

                        Originally posted by lyckr
                        When I play with balloons on my bed, they're often full of dust afterwards, from my bedsheets and my clothes. It's amazing how much the static manages to collect! I usually use my hands to pile it up on the surface of the balloon and then dispose of it. Never had any of the stuff the static collected, or the static itself, cause a balloon to pop.
                        Hi,

                        I have somewhat similar experiences with balloons and static electricity: Static electricity very easily builds up on balloons, but I have never expeienced it cause a balloon to pop. I have often rubbed balloons through my hair or against my clothes to make them as electric as possible in order to make them stick to the ceiling or the walls. It is also really cool to make balloons static in a dark room and watch all the sparks like little lightnings. I have done this countless times and never had a balloon pop from this.

                        I am a teacher, one of my subjects is physics, and I have often used balloons to illustrate that static electricity builds up on the surface and also test the polarity of the charge (the balloon becomes negatively charged). You can test this with a little lamp (‘glimlampe’ in Danish - I don’t know the English word for it: it is kind of a neon). You can Pick up little pieces of paper with the static balloon or make your hair stand up towards the balloon if you hold it over you head. Finally you can decharge the balloon by holding it towards a conductor connected to ground. This can producere quite impressive sparks. The experiments are of course done by the students, and many find it funny to compete about making the biggest charge and to producere the biggest sparks by decharging their balloons.

                        As the charge leaves the balloon it jumps from the (outer) surface, which is illustrated by the fact that the balloon doesn’t pop. It is simply electrons that jumps away from the balloon surface. Maybe it would be different if the balloon was positively charged, but I have never experienced this, even though it might be possible to find a material with which to ‘rub electrons off the balloon’ instead of onto the balloon. This would mean electrons violently jumping onto the balloon by decharge, and it cannot be entirely ruled out that this might be able to pop the balloon. I have never experienced it though.

                        I think maybe those who have experienced balloons pop from static have had the balloons pop from other (unseen) causes and ‘just’ assumed static was the culprit. Balloons are quite easy to pop by tiny sharp objects; these can have been pulles to the balloon by the static making static kind of a secondary cause for the pop. Decharge of static itself is not likely to cause a balloon to pop though.

                        I won’t claim what I wrote above to be scientifically sound, it is entirely my own experiences coupled with the fact that electrical charge always resides on the outer surface of an object. I wouldn’t worry too much about static as cause for making balloons pop though.

                        Thank you for reading my posting.

                        Sincerely
                        Susie
                        Last edited by SusieDK; 29-01-2019, 08:17. Reason: Correcting spelling mistakes.

                        Comment

                        • Yen_D_Heart
                          Member
                          • Jan 2019
                          • 47

                          #13
                          Re: Static electricity

                          Super interesting post Susie! We didn't got that kind of experiment, just dull explanation.

                          I also think that a balloon shouldn't pop due to static electricity. I sometimes put my wool blanket over a inflated balloon to save it from the sun. It's also funny to sit on one while under a blanket! They get charged and stick to my hair, but nothing bad ever happened because of it.

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