The Balloon Resurrection

Saturday morning it was about 45 degrees when we went grocery shopping. When we got to the market I discovered they had balloons with the logo of each of the NFL teams that were playing Saturday and Sunday. When I spotted the Dallas Cowboys balloon all filled with helium I knew it was going home with me.

We finished our shopping, checked out with our groceries and headed for our car. As I tucked the balloon in the car, my spirits fell. It felt as though about a third of the helium had escaped. I went ahead and put it in the car feeling sure the prized balloon had a leak somewhere. Not a good omen if your team balloon goes flat before the big game.

When we drove into our garage I got out and opened the rear door of the car only to find a happy surprise. The balloon was again fully inflated to it’s maximum size.

Then I realized what had happened. Bringing the balloon out into the cold air caused the helium (gas) to compress and this compression allowed the balloon to appear to have lost some of it’s contents and size, but as soon as it was in the warm car, it came back to life.

Who knew that something so simple as buying a helium filled balloon and taking it out into cold air could teach such a science lesson? I sure didn’t.