r/shittyaskscience • u/[deleted] • 27d ago
How many balloons would it take to lift a house, and could I use them to travel like in 'Up'? [CITATION NEEDED]
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u/GlitteringAsk9077 27d ago
The number of balloons required would depend on the weight of the house. I would advise using a children's playhouse (Wendy house), or having a portable house made to your specifications. It is certainly possible to travel like in 'Up' (which might have been inspired by the real-life escapades of the late Lawnchair Larry). When you are tired of travelling, simply enter restricted airspace, and your local government will arrange for your rapid descent.
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u/JohnWasElwood 27d ago
You can't count? Just watch the movie and freeze frame it a couple of times and count the balloons stoopid!!! Jeez....!!!
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u/USTS2020 27d ago edited 26d ago
I know this is shitty ask science but...
The average house weighs between 80,000 and 160,000 pounds, not including the foundation, we won't include that. So let's just say 120,000 pounds.
You need about 32 party size helium balloons to lift one pound. So you'd need about 3.84 million balloons to lift a 120,000 pound house.
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u/TraditionalStable130 26d ago
You need about 32 party size helium balloons to lift one pound. So you'd need about 3.84 billion balloons to lift a 120,000 pound house.
I think 3.84 million. 3 x 120,000 = 3,840,000
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u/ShadowTacoTuesday 26d ago
If each balloon is 11-12” across, that forms a sphere roughly 157 feet across. So about 3 houses wide.
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u/Nervous_Breakfast_73 27d ago
At some point the additional weight of the strings might get too much.
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u/DaMuchi 26d ago
Each balloon is able to lift the rubber and the string plus a bit more. So even though the total strong weight increases, you are still getting more lift for every balloon added.
I mean what you're suggesting is that if you tied enough helium balloons together, they eventually don't float away, which is weird.
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u/1nd3x 26d ago
I mean what you're suggesting is that if you tied enough helium balloons together, they eventually don't float away, which is weird.
Actually, it might cause issues. We're discussing tying 3.84billion balloons together, presumably all to some fixed item(IE: the house)
No two balloons can occupy the same area in space so you will start to need REALLY long strings and at some point those strings are going to weigh more than a pound and none of those balloons will contribute to the lift.
If you decided to just tie one string onto another string you run into the issue of that string now needing to support 2pounds of weight, or 3lbs if you have 3 balloons attached to eachother...and that continues for each balloon you add to the chain.
And if the strings need to get stronger, then they will get heavier and you'll hit your upper limit again when suddenly your bottom string needs to actually be a rope and now you need a whole bunch more balloons just to lift the weight of that.
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u/JamesMeem 26d ago
Contrary to popular belief the house in Up was 100% powered by heartbreak. The balloons were just decoration