Helium balloon falling about 78 feet down

[miajailbreak]

pls remove this to save youtubes bandwidth/space

plsssssssssssssssssssssss

[huntwds]

Did you spend money setting up this test? I think my grandson could tell you all about balloons.

[Cloudman06]

i dont goddamn get it...

[DIME10NASA]

Astronauts float in the space station because they are in free fall. Free falling in gravity makes things feel weightless. Sedimentation (stone sinking in water) and buoyancy (helium balloon going up in air) are opposite effects of gravity and different densities.

If gravity effects are reduced drastically, sedimentation and buoyancy are likewise reduced. Stone won't sink, helium balloon won't go up.

The key is that the box, the air inside, and the He balloon are all falling together.

[oads123]

buoyancy is not the opposite of gravity, gravity is the attravtive force between two objects independent of outside force

[DIME10NASA]

Okay, I didn't word it well.

Sedimentation and buoyancy are opposite effects.

They are both the result of gravity and density differences.

Does that sound better?

[DIME10NASA]

Astronauts do NOT float on the space station because of no gravity. There is about 90% of 1-g up there! They float around inside because the station and the crew and all the other stuff is falling towards the Earth but going real fast sideways to fall around the Earth.

Imagine dropping a ball straight down. Then throwing it faster and faster sideways. It curves down to the ground more and more gradually. Throw it 17,500 mph sideways, it would fall so gradual, it would fall around the Earth.

[Cloudman06]

Ohhhh k so the box is falling 75 feet with the balloon in it! Cool.

[dpignot2]

@DIME10NASA

Not so much. If I drop a bullet from my hand and it goes straight down and I simultaneously shoot a bullet from a gun (parallel to the ground), both bullets will hit the ground at the same time. The only force acting in the vertical direction is gravity (neglecting air resistance).

[Albanianator]

Maybe the balloon is inside the carrier falling 75 feet down, I think lol, don't quote me on that.

[DIME10NASA]

Yes, the balloon is in the carrier (orange drag shield in other video).

[Albanianator]

Ah, well I figured that out from this video and reading description, which was hard to understand hehe.

[AntiNeoFascist]

Was this done in a vacuum?

[DIME10NASA]

No, the balloon was in air. Remember that gravity pulls down on a helium balloon just as it pulls down on everything else. It pulls down on a helium balloon with less force than it does on the air around the balloon. Similar to a cork in water, the higher force of gravity on the water forces the cork upwards.

The key is that the balloon and the air surrounding it were enclosed in a box. The box, air, and balloon were all dropped together.

CONTINUED IN NEXT COMMENT

[DIME10NASA]

Just as things 'float' around on the space station without 'falling down', a helium balloon would float around also without 'rising up'.

[AntiNeoFascist]

ahhh... I didn't realize that the box was closed. I was wondering why air resistance itself wouldn't have caused the balloon to "rise" relative to the release. That explains it.

[DIME10NASA]

We have quite a difficult time sealing up every last little hole in the box. A jet of air coming in the box, when it's doing about 50 mph at the bottom, is quite disturbing to a very low-mass balloon.

[daberko120ch]

@DIME10NASA i wouldnt want to be that box :/

[queondatavo]

This is awesome!