What will happen if a balloon is released on moon?

Question

Will it fall on earth with an acceleration of g or will it escape into outer space?
Frankly, I believe it will fall on moon with the acceleration due to gravity of moon.
On earth the balloon goes up coz its lighter than air but on moon there is no air.
Also please neglect the fact that the balloon will burst due to lack of air and pressure on moon.

Answer 1

The fact that there is no atmosphere and thin air on the moon, along with less gravity, will all contribute to the baloon floating away into space quicker.

The heavy atmosphere of earth would slow down the ascent of the baloon into the atmosphere. There isn't the same air on the moon, so the helium filled baloon would float away into space much quicker.

Answer 2

A normal Earth balloon instantaneously rematerialized ("transported") to the moon will simply explode and then fall like a rock.

The people that say it will float away are wrong. It *cannot* float, there's absolutely nothing to hold it up.

If you took the time to walk it out of the lunar module then it would burst in the airlock.

If you could take an empty balloon and try to squeeze out all the air with your hands and then seal the end, and *then* go out through the airlock, then there'd probably be little enough air inside that it will blow up without exploding. It'd look like a normal balloon except for the fact that it too falls like a rock.

If you get a very tough balloon, with thick enough skin, then it won't explode.

*You* won't explode in a vacuum because skin is very strong (as strong as a watermelon hide). Your blood pressure is also only about 120 mmHg, which is only 1/6th of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere. So the skin doesn't have to take a full vacuum of pressure.

Answer 3

Here is what will happen if you are standing on the surface of the Moon and holding a baloon and then you let it go:

It will fall to the ground.
If you doubt this answer, you can go a google the hammer and the feather experiment that was actually done on the Moon.
Dave Scott, of Apollo 15 actually released a feather and a hammer at the same time. Result: they both fell and hit the ground at the same time. There is actual video footage of this experiment.

Another point: you did not say what the baloon contains. Most baloons are inflated with air. Only those inflated with a lighte than air gas (like helium or hydrogen) will rise in thee Earth's atmosphere.

On the Moon, however, it does not matter what gas is inside thee baloon. Whether it is air or hydrogen or helium, all balloons will fall to the ground. And they will all fall at the same rate (1.63 m/second squared).

On the ballon bursting. A baloon will only burst if the difference between the inside pressure and outside pressure is greater than the materials mechanical strength.

When you inflate a standard rubber balloon the actual pressure difference bewteen the inside and outside is a very tiny fraction of one atmosphere (on the order of a few ounces per square inch). One atmoshpere is 14.6 lbs per square inch at standard seal level conditions. So, even on the Moon, or more precisely in a vacuum, as long as you inflated your balloon to an internal pressure of a few ounces per square inch, the balloon will not burst. However, if you inflated a balloon inside your lunar module (at 1 atmosphere) and then stepped out into the vacuum, then the balloon would burst (because it would go from a few ounces of pressure to over 14 pounds).

Answer 4

You are correct in that the balloon will fall to the surface of the moon with the acceleration due to the gravity of the moon. This is assuming that the tensile strength of the balloon is sufficient to prevent bursting.

On the earth, a balloon displaces a certain volume of air. If the combined weight of the balloon and its contents is lighter than the volume it displaces, as with helium filled balloons, the balloon will rise. This is the same principle that causes oil to float to the surface of water. On the other hand, a balloon heavier than the volume it displaces will fall.

Since the moon has no atmosphere, a balloon will be heavier than the empty volume it displaces, and will fall. Since there is no air resistance, the speed (velocity) of the balloon as it falls is equal to the gravitational constant of the moon (approximately 5.3 ft/sec^2) times elapsed time:

v = a t

where a is the gravitational constant.

Answer 5

It will fall to the surface of the Moon with the acceleration of the gravity of the Moon (ignoring gravity from other sources). This was demonstrated on the Apollo 15 mission using a feather. A hammer and a feather were both dropped at the same time. They both hit at the same time because there is no air to interfere and all objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass. Balloons only float because air pressure pushes them up. Go to http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_15_feather_drop.html for a video of the Apollo 15 demo

Answer 6

You are exactly right. The Moon balloon will drop like a rock.

A balloon floats on Earth due to buoyancy. This is the fact that the balloon is lighter than its surroundings so it floats up. The atmosphere does retard the action of the balloon but this just slows the speed so the balloon does not keep accelerating.

Helium weighs about 1/7 ounce per cubic foot. Air weighs about 1 ounce per cubuc foot. This means that the buoyancy force lifting the ballon is about 6/7 ounce per cubic foot (minus the weight of the balloon itself and anything else riding along).

On the Moon, just like on Earth, the difference in the ballon weight and that of its surroundings determines the action of the ballon. Since there is no atmosphere, the surroundings weigh in at zero ounces per cubic foot so the balloon is heavier by 1/7 ounce per cubic foot. The balloon will fall and without any air resistance, it will fall at the freefall rate of the Moon's gravity, accelerating by 5 feet per second each second.

A final note, if there were no air resistance on Earth to slow the balloon's ascent, it would climb at about 6 times the acceleration of gravity (accelerating at 190 feet per second each second) because the buoyant force is 6 times the weight of the helium.

Answer 7

You are exactly right, as a mass the balloon will be gravitationally attracted to the mass of the moon in accordance with the GmM/d^2 formula. On the airless Moon, there would be none of the buoyancy that can more than counteract this effect on Earth (for balloons filled with a gas that is lighter than air).

Answer 8

if u neglect the fact that the balloon will burst due to lack of air and pressure on moon,i think the balloon will rise up a get lost in space......

Answer 9

Hey! Great question. After reading the answers so far, I believe both balloons would explode. But maybe if there was just a trace of air, each would actually expand. But if one of the balloons was rubber, it would probably break because the rubber would crystalize in the extreme cold. I could be wrong though. I have never thought about it before.

Answer 10

As there is no Air on Moon & you are saying that a baloon is full of Air then definatly it will fall on the surface of Moon beside whatever the acceleration of gravity of moon.

Answer 11

The balloon will sink to the moon's surface - and should do so at the same acceleration as a gold brick (as there's no air resistance).