Please, someone, what is the obsession with filling a rubber suit with a bazillion Cu Ft of helium?

Question

I see question after question in the science and math catagory about - "Will I float if if I fill a suit with X gallons of helium" or "How many balloons will I need to..............." What's going on here? Watching to many episodes of Myth Busters or what?

Answer 1

Though I tend to agree with your 'myth busters' comment-a large number of us (men) have a juvenile need to do something we deem 'really cool', this kind of thinking could have some redeeming value. Einstein said many of his ideas came from mental games he played involving various imagined scenarios, the most common of which centered on movement within an elevator shaft. Who knows if one of these Darwin award candidates may one day invent a helium based rocket fuel that allows the shuttle to reach the upper levels of the atmosphere before needing to fire the engines?
If nothing else, we may be looking at future entries under the 'odd news' heading when one of these theories is tested.

Answer 2

Daddy doesn't know that they're playing with his computer.


Doug