if a helium balloon were released on the moon; what would happen?

Question

Because there is no air or atmosphere, what would it do?


and why?

Answer 1

First answer is partially correct. There is no ambient pressure to prevent the balloon from expanding. However, the moon's surface temperature will also dictate what happens to the balloon. The surface of the moon varies from 100 degrees C to -147 degrees C. So if the balloon is in the hot zone, it would burst. But if it's in the cold zone, the balloon would behave a little more like plastic. And at this cold temperature, the Helium won't expand as much as it would if it was warmer. So if you combine those 2 factors, the balloon would probably crack and fracture apart.

Answer 2

If you tried filling it with the same amount of helium as you would on earth, the balloon would probably burst, because of the internal pressure. On the earth, the internal pressure pushing out, is balanced by the pressure of the atmosphere pushing inward, and that keeps the balloon from bursting on earth.

However, if you carefully gave the balloon just a tiny squirt of helium (much less than you would on earth), it would expand to full-balloon size without bursting. In that case, the tension of the rubber would be enough to counteract the internal pressure, and you'd have a nicely inflated helium balloon in a vacuum.

However, it wouldn't float. If you let go of your inflated balloon, it would just drop to the ground. On the earth, helium balloons float because of something called buoyancy, which is caused by the fact that the atmosphere pushes slightly harder on the bottom of the balloon than on the top. Take away the atmosphere, and you take away the buoyancy.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure it would just burst. There would be pressure on the inside, and none on the outside to equalize it, so the balloon wouldn't be stable.