| Author | Message | ||
     Jared Unregistered guest |
Simon, If you filled a basketball up w/ helium it wouldn't lift the heavy rubber, but how much lighter would it actually be? Would it be like playing b-ball on the moon? | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (sfield) New member Username: sfield Post Number: 200 Registered: 12-2004 |
The diameter of a basketball is 9.39 inches. The volume is thus 4/3rds times pi times (9.39/2) to the 3rd power, or 433.5 cubic inches, or 7.1 liters. There are 22.4 Liters in a mole of air or helium, so 7.1/22.4 is about a third of a mole of gas. A mole of air weighs about 29 grams. A mole of helium weighs 4 grams. A third of a mole thus is 9.66 grams for air, and 1.33 grams for helium, so the ball would weight 8.33 grams less if filled with helium. The ball weighs 624 grams when filled with air, and 615 when filled with helium, so the difference is about 1.5%. | ||
| Anonymous |
How could u make one float?(or just bounce real high) | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (sfield) New member Username: sfield Post Number: 205 Registered: 12-2004 |
Clearly, if you had nothing inside the ball, it would only weigh 1.33 grams less than if it were filled with helium. To make it lighter than air, you would have to remove about 615 grams of material from the helium-filled ball. In other words, make the ball as thin as a balloon. | ||
| AnotherAnonymous Unregistered guest |
The Exploratorium in SF has (or did on my last visit, a few years ago) a basket ball perpetually hovering about 5 feet over a traffic cone (apparently the perfect shape for directing the air). | ||
| lysdexia Unregistered guest |
It floats on water. Simply fill the atmosfere with water and it'll float. | ||
| Jennifer Sturm (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted From: 70.144.118.85 |
Hi, I'm 9 years old doing a Science Fair experiment on bounce. I want to compare how high a basketball will bounce with air versus filled with helium. I need help on how to inflate the basketballs with helium. Can you please help me? Thank you, Justin in NC | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 807 Registered: 12-2004 |
The small cannisters of helium you can buy at party stores have a nozzle for inflating party balloons. You can tape the needle used for inflating the basketball to the end of that nozzle and hold it in place with your fingers while you inflate the ball. You will then want to measure the pressure of the gas (helium or air) in the ball, to make sure they are both the same, and run the test several times (deflating and inflating the balls each time) so you get an average, in case your measuring equipment is not very sensitive or accurate. Sounds like a great experiment! You might also compare how inflation pressure affects the bounce. | ||
| AnotherAnonymous (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted From: 64.162.10.20 |
The small cannisters of helium you can buy at party stores probably aren't pure helium. Go to a welding shop for some pure. You could also see if you can get CO2, argon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur hexaflouride, and anything else not too dangerous. | ||
| britanny lee (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted From: 206.148.148.43 |
my name is britanny, i was wondering if you guys could help me with a science project i am wanting to know if a basketball would even fill up with helium. my dad thinks i should do it for a science project i sure hope you can help me. thanks for all your help in advance, Britanny | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 908 Registered: 12-2004 |
You can determine how much pressure is in the basketball by using a tire pressure gauge connected to a ball inflation needle. You can determine the pressure of the helium tank by attaching the tire pressure gauge to a valve stem from an inner tube, and then pressing the rubber end of the valve stem tightly against the balloon inflation nozzle, and letting the helium flow into the pressure gauge. If the tank pressure is equal to or greater than the ball pressure, then you can fill the ball from the tank. If not, then you will need a pump that can be fed helium instead of air, or a higher pressure helium tank. The helium in tanks meant for filling balloons is probably pure enough for this project. | ||
| morgan (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted From: 71.34.93.90 |
So, for my chemistry experiment this year I decided to study how different gases, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium and regular oxygen, would affect the bounch of a basketball. Have any ideas that could be supported with the chemical makeup of the element?? If you do, that'd be great and very helpful! Thanks | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 952 Registered: 12-2004 |
Read the comments above yours. |
