Technology

The Science Behind a Bursting Balloon

December 8, 2015 | Johannes Van Zijl

Popped balloon filled with corn starch
Photo credit: Andrew Magill/Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0)

What exactly happens when a balloon bursts?

We have all popped the odd balloon at some time or another, but the event happens so quickly that you likely don't know how exactly the balloon goes *pop*.

A newly discovered model reveals that balloons can actually burst in two different ways.  A balloon with low internal pressure bursts through the growth of a single crack in the balloon.  Alternatively, if the pressure increases above a critical point, the balloon ends up breaking apart from multiple cracks.

This video by Science Take explores these two newly discovered models of how a balloon bursts!

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