Since its invention, many people have associated balloons with holidays, celebrations, and fun!
In the course of experiments, to make these inflatable items fly, people tried filling them with a variety of gases, starting from oxygen and carbon dioxide, and ending at argon, neon, nitrogen, and even hydrogen. However, not all of these chemical compounds could provide the balloon with the lightness and ability to float, but helium, a light inert gas with no color, taste, or smell, did!
All balloons, in principle, can be filled with helium: you can make a regular round latex balloon https://balloons.online/latex-balloons/round-latex-balloons/ float, as well as make exclusive foil heart-shaped balloons go high into the sky. However, this does not always make sense! And it’s all about the balloon size and the lifting force of helium.
Now we will tell you what types of balloons can be filled with helium.
Latex balloons and helium
Since latex is the most popular material in balloon production, it becomes clear why inflating balloons with helium has become so popular.
You can use helium for any latex balloons. However, you should take the lifting force of the helium and the specific gravity of the latex into account: the latter depends on the wall thickness of the balloon. Based on this, the diameter of a latex balloon that can take off with helium inside must be at least 10 inches.
Smaller balls will only be able to fly up if they have thinner walls, which will lower their strength. And it has no sense to use hi-float for such products as a solution to this problem since treatment gives the ball additional weight, which will affect its ability to rise into the air and the flight itself.
If you are planning a party and want your balloons to float as long as possible and make your guests happy, avoid using 5″ round balloons, 6″ heart-shaped inflatables, or even 6″ Quick Link items as they are too small to stay in the air for a long time.
Foil balloons and helium
Durable foil balloons are also great for inflating with helium. But their dimensions must also be sufficient for the mass of gas to acquire the ability to lift quite a heavy object (the foil is heavier than latex). Any item, no matter if it is square, round, or heart, that is less than 18” inch in diameter is quite unlikely to float. The same thing is with 20” balloon stars.
The foil balloons of other shapes will be able to float if they can hold enough helium. A fully inflated 260 (2” x 60”) item will float for quite a short time, and even if you will underinflate it enough to twist it into an animal, you’re unlikely to get better results. A 350 (3″ x 60″) or 646 (6″ x 46″) balloon will do a bit better than a 260, but still, you will experience limited float time.
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It’s quite interesting that shaped foil balloon are even harder to float. Given that foil balloon need more helium to float, shaped balloons have relatively less space to hold gas inside them although their size isn’t much smaller than that of a standard balloon.
But there are some exceptions. For instance, it might seem that the 34” hashtag balloon is quite huge, but it has quite a little space inside to be filled with enough helium since it has multiple pockets. The helium inside such an item isn’t enough to overcome the weight of the foil.
Small foil balloons are usually inflated with oxygen and placed on sticks, attached to walls or hanging from the ceiling, or used as a decorative element for arches, garlands, columns, bouquets, and other centerpieces.
