by bethyboop on June 16th, 2008

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How many helium balloons does it take to lift a 5 stone person

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Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

by bingobongo - is really losing interes... on June 16th, 2008
1 stone = 14lbs

5 stone = 70 pounds.

80 balloons lifts 1 lb

5600 balloons needed!

http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2004/11/mythbusters_ping_pong_balls_an.html
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- Nice, I didn't know mythbusters had done this.
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  by Carwash on June 16th, 2008
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by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
Okay, I am not fully awake, what is a 5 stone person???
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- Okay. Good. I wasn't the only person thinking this.
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  by a 10sEn is the AB Ninja Lounge bartender on June 16th, 2008
- I reread it 5 times, then just shook my head, I thought maybe, someone forgot to teach me something, when I was young, LOL.
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- Could it be 5 ton??
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- Okay, so I looked it up, and a stone is a British measurement equalling 14lbs. So, the question's asking "How many helium balloons are needed to lift a person who is 70lbs?"
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  by a 10sEn is the AB Ninja Lounge bartender on June 16th, 2008
- Thanks, I will see if I can figure it out.
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- It takes one big ass balloon.
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- Someone else found the answer (although, I still say it depends on the size of the balloon).
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  by a 10sEn is the AB Ninja Lounge bartender on June 16th, 2008
- It does! Helium has a lifting force of 1 gram per liter. So if you have a balloon that contains 5 liters of helium, the balloon can lift 5 grams. A normal balloon at an amusement park might be 30 centimeters (about 1 foot) in diameter. To determine how many liters of helium a sphere can hold, the equation is 4/3 x pi x r x r x r. The radius of a 30-centimeter-diameter balloon is 15 centimeters, so: 4/3 x pi x 15 x 15 x 15 = 14,137 cubic centimeters = 14 liters. So a normal amusement park balloon can lift about 14 grams, assuming that the weight of the balloon itself and the string is negligible. If you weigh 50 kilograms (about 110 pounds), then you weigh 50,000 grams. Divide your 50,000 grams by the 14 grams per balloon and you find that you need 3,571.42 balloons to lift your weight. You might want to add 500 more if you actually would like to rise at a reasonable rate. So you need roughly 4,000 balloons to lift yourself if you weigh 50 kilograms, adjust that number,according to weig
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- Let's say that instead of going to the amusement park, you go to an army surplus store and buy one 3-meter (about 10-foot) balloon. It can hold:
  
  4/3 x pi x 150 x 150 x 150 = 14,137,000 cubic centimeters = 14,137 liters
  
  It would only take four of those to give you the same lift.
  
  One balloon that is 30 meters (about 100 feet) in diameter displaces 14,137,000 liters, so it can lift 14,000 kilograms (about 31,000 pounds) -- this is roughly the size of a large blimp.
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
- I take it this means you've had your second cup of coffee already? :D
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  by a 10sEn is the AB Ninja Lounge bartender on June 16th, 2008
- The effects hit me fast, LOL.
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  by Anonymous on June 16th, 2008
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by Carwash on June 16th, 2008
A few years ago, some friends and I went out to a Christmas dinner at a restaurant. The restaurant had a high ceiling, and over the course of the meal, we found out that it takes 23 helium filled balloons to lift a half-full salt cellar to the ceiling fan. We weren't allowed back in the restaurant.

However! With new fangled maths, we can work this out. Helium provides about 9.8 newtons of lift per cubic meter, at sea level and room temperature. That's enough to lift 1kg. So let's assume, to make the calculations easier, that we remain at sea level and room temperature.

5 stone is 31.75 kg, so we need over 31.75 cubic meters of helium. Let's say 31.8 cubic meters.

Now, according to a party supply website I found, big party balloons are 12" across. They're not a uniform shape, but to make the maths easier, let's assume they are - we'll end up with a rough figure. 12" is 0.3048 meters, so the radius is 0.1524m. The volume of a sphere is 4/3 * pi * r cubed, so the volume is 0.014827 metres cubed.

So we want 31.8 m3, and a balloon gives 0.014827 m3. The number of balloons in 31.8 would be 31.8/0.014827, which is about 2212.

Since we've approximated lift, ignored the mass of the balloon's material, and approximated its volume, there's likely to be a large variation in the answer, and indeed an easier job using larger balloons, but 2200 is a good ballpark figure to start a project with.
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by Piggle on June 16th, 2008
How many balloons do I have - how big are they and what is their capacity for helium? It might just need one very big one.....I guess the real question is how much helium does it take to life a five stone weight....unfortunately I don't know the answer to that one ;0)
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