Levi+P

Ever since we were babies and toddlers we've been around balloons. Be it balloon animals with clowns or, lighter than air helium balloons at a birthday party. We also all know what happens when these balloons get too close to a flame or a stray point, they pop. What if the type of gas that fills these balloons can affect how loud it will pop? Could there be a gas that causes hearing damage with its pop? Balloons were first created using paper, thin metals, and cloth, but these materials were not durable. Then, synthetic rubber and natural latex were found and formed in molds to create balloons. Latex is weaker than rubber but can be stretched to an astonishing 7 to 8 times as long as its static state. rubber is also not as resilient as latex which may prove a handicap in the field of popping for latex balloons. It is know by "balloon experts" that the sudden BANG! of a balloon pop is the latex snapping and breaking the sound barrier. Though, it is also know that intensity of the latex snapping is affected by the pressure inside of the balloon. Gas pressure is formed by the billions of collisions between molecules within the gas, the accumulation of these micro-vibrations apply pressure to the membrane of the cell, in our case, a balloon. There is a direct correlation between pressure and gas density. if a fixed volume of gas in normal atmospheric pressure is put into a container with higher pressure the gas will be more dense. this theoretically causes the molecules to be closer to each other, instigating more collisions, and ultimately creates more outward pressure. In this case, logically, gases that are more or less dense will cause different popping situations. The unit decibel(dB) is used to measure the intensity of sounds and can be related to for figuring out hearing damage situations. Hearing damage can occur http://www.wikispaces.com/_/ad4b0f60/i/c.gifwith any noise over 85 dB with respect to power and length of exposure. being subjected to 90 dB sounds for 8 hours or more can cause hearing loss, and even a moment of any noise over 140dB can cause hearing loss. The lab equipment needed for this experiment is mostly mundane. I'll need a collection of balloons from the same manufacturer, preferably same color and size. I'd use a string to control the circumference and volume in each balloon. I may have to build a simple rig to create a constant popping situation with constant force and positioning. The gases i have chosen are readily available and not extremely expensive. The most extensive pece of equipment is a sound recorder that measures in dB. Upon researching, i have found that Type 2 sound recorders can dictate to within 5 dB, but Type 1 audio recorders are as precise as 1.5 dB away. I have gained permission to use one of these audio recorders to record the intensity of the volume of the pop, and decide whether it can cause hearing damage. By using my resources i can find out the densities of different gases and using that knowledge, hypothesize that the denser gas will create a louder "pop". Using my common sense and knowledge it seems to me i will get a conclusive outcome from this project but i will have to wait to see the outcomes.

__Works Cited__

1) Rottner, Renee. "Balloon." __How Balloon is Made.__  2) Shmid, H.P. "Pressure and the Gas Laws." 18 September 1997.  3) "How do Balloons Pop?" __Balloon HQ.__ 4 January 1997.  4) "Gases-Densities." __The Engineering Toolbox.__  5) "Characteristics of Gases." __Modulez.__  6) "Sound meters." __D.A.S Distribution Inc.__  7) "What is a decibel?" __How Stuff Works.__  8) "Argon MSDS." __Safety Gases of America.__ <http://www. specialtygasesofamerica.com/msds/material-safety-data-sheets.html //9)// "Helium MSDS." __Linde U.S.__ <http://msds.lindeus.com/ 10) " Oxygen MSDS." __Air Products.__ <http://www. **airproducts**.com/nr/rdonlyres/89de2726-10bb.../sfgrm07.pd

//__Materials__//

1) 40 balloons, some spare in case of accidents 2) O gas 3) He gas 4) Ar gas 5) Popping rig 6) Audio recorder 7) Volume rig

__Procedure__

1) Inflate 10, same sized and brand balloons with one gas 2) While inflating, place in volume rig to insure accuracy 3) Register inflated balloon on popping rig 4) Set up audio recorder 1 foot away 5) Release rig, which pops balloon, while recording 6) Record dB level and other notes 7) Repeat steps 3-6 for 9 other balloons 8) Find the average of dB measures and record 9) Repeat for all gases

__Conducting and Observations__

The experiment went mostly smooth. The popping rig worked as planned and there were no faults with gases. I required some minor assistance from a teacher to secure the helium balloons as to prevent them from floating away. The high quality recording device performed better than i could have hoped, and saved all of my results on file. When conducting the experiment, i could hear noticible yet slight differences in the volume of pops between gases, hopefully providing notable results. I wish i could have made a better volume rig to ensure a constant volume, because the balloons may not have all had a consistent volume, which puts bona fide results at risk.