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BALLOON BONANZA
Learn about static electricity with a series of fun
activities using a simple balloon.
You will need an adult to help with these activities.
What you need
•  Two inflated rubber
balloons
•  A volunteer with steady
nerves
•  One lighter
•  One adult to do all
lighter duties
•  Water
•  Waterproof outer wear
Challenge 1
What to do
1.  Partially fill one balloon with some water
2.  Inflate both balloons with air
3.  (Parents only) holding the balloon filed with air over the head of a volunteer,
light a flame underneath the balloon and watch carefully to see what happens!
4.  (Parents only) holding the balloon filled with air and water over the head of a
volunteer, light a flame underneath the balloon and watch what happens!
What’s happening?
WOW! So the balloon containing nothing but air popped, while the one filled with air
and water didn’t. The flame under the balloon with nothing but air simply heats up the
rubber and the air inside so it goes POP! The other balloon, filled with water doesn’t
pop because the water is really good at absorbing all that heat and redistributes it
away from the rubber so it does not burst. Of course, if we kept the flame under the
balloon for long enough, if would eventually pop and your brave volunteer would be
covered in water!
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Brought to you by
BALLOON BONANZA
What you need
•  Inflated rubber
balloon
•  Wooden kebab
skewers
•  Steady nerves
Challenge 2
What to do
Your challenge: pass a wooden kebab skewer
through a balloon without the balloon popping
Have you tried? Did it pop?
Here’s some tips!
1.  At the base of the balloon where it is tied the
material may look visibly darker. It may also
look visibly darker at the opposite end,
directly on top of the balloon.
2.  Pierce the balloon at one of these ends and
follow through directly across pushing the
skewer out on the other side.
What’s happening?
So if you went through the side, your balloon popped straight away or started
to deflate almost instantly! This is because the skewer tears the tightly
stretched rubber. But what happens if you went through the neck or the knot
of the balloon? The material there is not as tightly stretched and when you
push the skewer through those points, the molecules the rubber is made of
are simply pushed around the skewer and the balloon does not pop. Try
again and see if you can do it this time round!
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